In one Long Island town, a rite of passage for middle school students was ended after school officials installed “vape detectors” in the bathrooms.
Lindenhurst Middle School installed a FlySense FS300 vape detector that can detect the presence of both nicotine in the air and THC, the compound found in marijuana.
The detector can sense changes in sound as well as air quality.
This means that this special device can also alert school officials if a fight breaks out in the bathroom.
Derek Peterson Sotter Technologies Said CBS The detector is equipped with AI algorithms that can distinguish between the sound of a door or toilet lid slamming and “someone messing around in the bathroom.”
Peterson said the detectors do not have built-in microphones.
If an anomaly is detected, an email is immediately sent to the school’s principal, Frank Naccarato.
Students who are arrested are then referred to specialized intervention services.
“There are still consequences, but now there’s an education component,” Naccarato said. “We also have to research how e-cigarettes harm people.”
The district investigated the detectors at the suggestion of Vanessa Probst, a 15-year-old student who noticed her classmates were so addicted to e-cigarettes that they would rush to the bathroom between classes to smoke.
“I was researching it and learned about the side effects, the possibility of getting popcorn lung and the severe cancers that can occur,” Probst told CBS.
The school district installed the devices several weeks ago and has already arrested two vaping users.
The same detectors will soon be installed in school restrooms in Copiague and Wyandanche.
