Sumner Schools to install vape sensors in middle, high school bathrooms. Are kids vaping?

Sumner County School officials are hoping they can help their students kick the vaping habit by installing special sensors in the places they visit most to sneak secret puffs, school bathrooms.

The district's efforts come as Tennessee ranked the highest of all 50 states and Washington D.C. for vape usage, according to a study published by Forbes Advisor. In the U.S, about 2.8 million school-aged kids vape, according to data from the annual National Youth Tobacco Survey.

“At the end of the day, if we can eliminate eight hours of the activity, we’ve got a shot at eliminating it completely,” Sumner County Schools Director Scott Langford said in a school board meeting this week.

“If you are having to go two or three times during the day to hit a vape for either nicotine or THC, that’s a problem for any kid, but it’s definitely a problem for a kid under 18, and the quicker we can get them help, the better off they’ll be,” he said.

More: What states vape the most? Tennessee leads the way and so does the South

About 1.97 million high school students and 800,000 middle school students currently use tobacco products, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in November 2023.

And among those who reported using e-cigarettes – more than 2.1 million kids – more than one in four used them daily in 2023, choosing offerings from popular brands like Elf Bar, Esco Bars, Vuse, JUUL and Mr. Fog, according to national survey findings on youth use of e-cigarette products.

Results from the annual survey also show that while tobacco use decreased among high school students by 3.9%, it increased among middle school students by 2.1%.

This figure, 3.9%, translates to about 580,000 fewer high school students using e-cigarettes – the primary reason for the decline, according to the survey.

Sumner County Schools crack down on vaping

Sumner County School Board members voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the purchase of vape sensors, and they plan to install them in middle and high school bathrooms across the district.

No information was provided about how much the sensors cost or how many the district plans to install in each school. Emails requesting specific information about the sensors, including these details, were unreturned as of press time for this story.

“Kids that are dealing drugs, we’re expelling. If you’re dealing drugs on a Sumner County school campus, you’re expelled. We’re not going to let someone bring down other kids, and I support that. I don’t like to be hardline on things, but I don’t see any choice in that,” Langford said.

“If we hit it with enough of a consequence and kids know that the sensors are there, it discourages the activity during the school day… also, if it triggers, it gives us a much faster opportunity to intervene to get help to a child that’s got a problem."

Several offenses, including the unlawful possession of any drug on school grounds or at a school-sponsored event, are noted as Zero Tolerance Offenses in the Sumner County Schools handbook and may result in a student being expelled from regular attendance at school for at least one calendar year.

Policy changes are being discussed for students who trip the vape sensors.

“We would expect (the sensors) to be operational, fully, by next semester… that way we can put all of that in student handbooks and have all the procedures and everything down pat before we get started,” Katie Brown, assistant director of schools for student services, said in Tuesday's board meeting.

How do the sensors work?

The sensors detect changes in the atmosphere like smoke and sound, officials said last week. Brown noted that they would pick up, "a loud noise, like if there’s vandalism or screaming, a fight or something like that, or smoke or any kind of vapor.

“Sometimes, in our trial, we did notice that some cleaning products were sending that off… but it’s really just a change in the atmosphere around the sensor,” she said.

After a sensor has been triggered, a notification will be sent to school administrators, who can then view a real-time video feed from a camera in the hallway.

“They can see who’s entering and leaving the bathroom in real time,” Brown said.

Sensors inside the bathroom facilities won’t record conversations, district officials confirmed in the meeting.

Katie Nixon can be reached at knixon@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Sumner Schools to install vape censors as TN No 1 in US for vape use