MCPS intends to put vape detectors in every high school after receiving $2 million from a settlement with the e-cigarette company JUUL.
The detectors were tested in six MCPS high schools last school year, and the number of detectors in each bathroom varied. After they are installed and someone uses an e-cigarette, it can set off a silent alarm and send a message to all administrators and security throughout the school.
The detectors work by picking up the smoke, but they sense the chemicals in the air. Student Member of the Board Praneel Suvarna said that things like perfume or aerosol spray could be detected, but there are more advanced detectors that pick up the actual chemicals found in vapes.
“It’s prevention because if people know that there’s a vape detector in the bathroom, they’re not gonna vape in the bathrooms,” Survarna said. “Then number two, having a code of conduct that says what the consequences are and then also having a security protocol in place.”
It is still unknown which kind of detectors are being installed and when. According to an NBC4 Washington video of vape detector installation, MCPS still needs final approval before the money is spent.
According to Grace Rivera-Oven in the Board of Education business meeting on Aug. 20, MCPS is going to devote $2 million for vape detectors and prioritizing security training like how to administer Narcan and what to do in situations of fights.
“I think we can do a lot better than where we are now,” Suvarna said. “And I think vape detectors are one part of that. Part of that sort of conversation was also, are we going to get additional security guards? And the answer was yes. The goal is really to have those extra security assistants to be able to get in there pretty quick.”
In 2020, Montgomery County sued JUUL due to the growth in teenage consumers and the fruity flavors attracting students — more advertisements for teenagers to buy vapes cause more vaping-related illnesses and a crowded bathroom. The issue of drug use is only rising in high schools, with security and staff not always being on top of things.
“They’re going to do a comprehensive review of the schools right now as they stand before vape detectors and make sure that there’s adequate security within every school and then open up the bathrooms,” Suvarna said. “My promise is within the next month to month and a half, you’ll start to see bathrooms being opened.”
The hope is that with the additional security and the vape detectors, more bathrooms will start to reopen.
“I hope it solves the problem even though it probably won’t because they would probably go outside or skip school, but they’re at least taking note of it,” senior Savannah Jarrett said.
