Sumner County Schools have finished installing vape detectors in all 11 of their middle schools.
SUMNER COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Sumner County Schools have finished installing vape detectors in all 11 of their middle schools.
Director of Schools Scott Langford told News 2 this technology will work as a “powerful deterrent” to what’s become a habit nationwide for youth.
“We want to help develop the best children possible, and that means being healthy as well as being educated,” said Langford. “We will absolutely see an uptick in discipline, especially when we turn them on in the high schools. I would anticipate a significant increase in catching kids with vapes.”
The detectors will be located in every school bathroom. Officials said they will work like smoke detectors, except when smoke is picked up, they don’t make a noise. Instead, specific school personnel—like School Resource Officers—will be notified.
“This will keep a lot of kids from risking it because they don’t want to get suspended, they don’t want to get in trouble. And it also gives us the opportunity, if we can catch someone early enough, then we have a conversation with parents and get them the help and support that they need,” explained Langford.
Langford knows this won’t cure the vaping epidemic, but he called it a “big step” forward. The next step for their district, he said, is proper education on vaping’s pitfalls.
“I don’t think very many parents want their kids to pick up a vaping addiction; they just don’t know the ramifications of it. These things are tiny, they’re easy to hide, and kids pass them back and forth,” detailed Langford.
When it’s all said and done, Sumner County Schools will have about 200 of the detectors across their 20 middle and high schools.
“If we can work together, you know, we’re going to do the very best we can to eliminate them from our schools, but if we can work together with parents to be aware of what to look for in their kids to provide support for them too,” said Langford.
Director Langford said the punishment for kids who are caught vaping on campus will depend on the student’s history. He said they hope to have the detectors installed in each high school after Christmas.