Mesa Public Schools adds vape detectors to middle, high school bathrooms

MESA, AZ (AZFamily) — The largest school district in Arizona says it has put vape detectors in all of its middle and high school bathrooms.

Mesa Public Schools says vaping on campus, in the bathrooms specifically, was becoming such a big problem that students were reporting they didn’t feel safe going into the bathrooms.

The vape detectors look like smoke detectors, but instead of picking up smoke, they catch the chemicals carried in vape pens.

Once that is detected, it will alert school staff, who will then try to track down who is responsible.

Last fall, Mesa Public Schools launched a pilot program putting vape detectors in two bathrooms at Red Mountain High School.

“They said they were getting 15 hits a day between those two bathrooms and catching about six to eight kids a day with vapes,” Allen Moore, the Mesa Public Schools director of school safety and security, said.

Moore says a majority of those vape cartridges caught had THC in them.

Now, every middle school and high school in the district has a vape detector in its bathroom.

“Feedback I’m getting in one month of school has been nothing short of great,” Moore said.

Jose Esteban Ruiz is the assistant principal at Carson Junior High.

He says the sensors do not record video and will only pick up sound if it’s a really loud noise.

He said kids were taught about the detectors on the first day of school and that they are seeing a positive impact.

“We’ve only had one student get caught in the restroom using their vape,” he said.

That is, since school started on Aug. 1.

“I would say our reaction time is within 30 seconds,” Ruiz said.

According to the National Youth Tobacco Survey, more than 2 million middle and high school students used e-cigarettes last year.

“Obviously warning the students we don’t want these things on our campus so we can have a safe and inviting campus for all,” Ruiz said.

Moore says if kids are caught, they have to attend a five-day educational program and could face suspension.

If there is THC involved, then police will step in and the kids could face charges.

He added the district has had conversations about possibly adding these detectors to their elementary schools as they are catching some 10- to 12-year-olds with vapes.

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