Photo courtesy of Piedmont Exedra

High schools across the nation, like this one in California where the photo was taken, are installing vape detectors to alert school authorities. This is the first year they are being used at WJ.

So, why did Walsh Jesuit decide to install vape detectors?

According to Assistant Principal of Discipline and Safety Mr. Rardin, there are two main reasons. First, the rise of the popularity of vaping is concerning to the administration and many parents, especially since no one really knows the long-term effects nor how addictive they can become. Second, it’s illegal.

Once the decision to purchase the detectors was made, the next step was picking a make and model. A quick Google search will produce 3.5 million results. Each detector varies in price, appearance, effectiveness, and bonus-features.

The model the school selected (the name has been omitted for obvious reasons), has the capacity to detect smoke, vapor, and loud noises, before activating a silent alarm. It will also go off if the detectors are tampered with. Yikes!

These devices are not cheap, but most of the cost was offset through a grant from the state. WJ currently has 7 installed in various bathrooms at the cost of $1,000 each. That’s a total of $7,000 (The price of two Eras Tour tickets being up charged on Ebay or a Super Bowl LVIII ticket on SeatGeek).

When the device detects an abnormality in the air, an alert is sent as a text to Mr. Rardin and to a main database. How effective have the devices been? As of October 10, at 2:40, the seven detectors have gone off 263 times (mainly in the boys Common’s bathroom).

According to Mr. Mark Schweter, Director of Campus Security, “[The alerts] are really bad during sports games.” And with basketball season starting soon, the frequency of alerts is expected to increase.

So far the administration is happy with the results. “We’ve made good use of them and are still learning how to use them,” commented Mr. Rardin.

But what do the students think?

A student who frequently vapes and asked to remain anonymous was not thrilled with the glorified smoke alarms. “I walked around the school thinking about how to get around it,” they said.

Some students believe the vape detectors are waayy too noise sensitive. “If you shut a stall door with any amount of force, the detectors go off. It’s so stupid,” added another anonymous student.

It can also be incredibly hard for Mr. Rardin to figure out who set off the vape detector when there were upwards of 15 students in the bathroom. This can lead to uncomfortably long sessions in the Dean’s (sorry…Assistant Principal of Discipline and Safety’s) Office.

Sophomore Ava Franz was in the bathroom when Mr. Rardin received a notice that the device had detected vapor. She and a dozen other girls were questioned to see if someone would confess to vaping. “I was 20 minutes late to my next class. It sucked,” she said when asked about the experience.

Junior Isabelle Mastromatteo is thankful for the vape detectors due to the unpleasant smell of lingering vapors. “It’s their only way of seeing what people are doing,” she said, “and the only other thing they can do about vaping is increase random drug testing.”

As for now, it seems like the vape detectors are here to stay.