KENOSHA, Wis. — To address the rise in student vaping, which doctors say poses health risks, many school districts around the country are installing vape detectors in school buildings.

In Wisconsin, the Kenosha Unified School District (KUSD) has installed a total of 72 vape detectors in all its middle and high school bathrooms.

What You Need To Know

  • The Kenosha Unified School District has installed 72 vape detectors in all its middle and high school bathrooms to reduce student vaping

  • The devices alert administrators when vaping chemicals are detected

  • KUSD has cameras outside school bathrooms that then identify who was vaping

  • On average, administrators receive 30-80 notifications of vaping per day
  • The detectors cost roughly $132,000 and were for paid for with money the district received from a $1.7 billion lawsuit settlement against Juul

The devices resemble smoke detectors and have sensors that alert administrators when vaping chemicals are detected.

“We have cameras just outside the bathrooms where we can go on and see who was in the bathroom at the time,” said Cliff Johnson, assistant principal at Tremper High School.

“Prior to these detectors, it was only us, you know, basically either getting a report from a teacher that something smelled off in the bathroom, or us actually walking in to have a student either blowing a vape out of their mouth or passing a vape to a friend,” he said.

Johnson said last school year, Tremper recorded 175 student violations of vaping on property. Since getting the vape detectors installed this year, he said that vaping in bathrooms is a much more prevalent problem than administrators even realized.

“We got anywhere from 30 to 80 alerts of vaping per day,” he said.“We got anywhere from 30 to 80 alerts of vaping per day,” he said. “One week we had 436 alerts. That was the largest amount that we’ve seen so far.”

Many concerned parents in the district, including Marco Giese, notice vaping has become an epidemic among teens.

“The numbers are surprising, but then again, I’m also not surprised, sadly,” said Giese. “I’m glad that they’re able to get notified and hopefully it’ll save a kid’s life down the road.”

Giese has three daughters. Two of them go to Tremper. He said they don’t vape, but they have friends who do.

“They’re good kids. They’re nice kids, you know? So, it’s alarming and sad, but all we can do is educate or try to deter kids from doing stuff like that,” said Giese.

School administrators said the goal is not to punish students but rather to educate and encourage them to quit.

KUSD used Juul settlement money to pay the more than $130,000 it cost to install the vape detectors.

Juul Labs agreed to a $1.7 billion settlement to resolve more than 5,000 lawsuits filed by various levels of government, school districts, consumer class-action and personal injury cases across the country. Those lawsuits alleged the company deceptively marketed its vaping products to minors and misled consumers about their addictiveness and safety.

Some other school districts in Wisconsin that have also implemented vape detectors in their buildings include South Milwaukee and Sheboygan.

Related Stories