A middle school rite of passage is no more for the students of one Long Island town after school officials had the bathrooms fitted with “vape detectors.”
Lindenhurst Middle School installed the FlySense FS300 vape detectors which are capable of detecting the presence of both nicotine and THC — found in marijuana — in the air.
The detectors can also sense air quality as well as shifts in sound.
That means the special equipment can even alert school officials when fights break out inside the restrooms.
Derek Peterson of Soter Technologies told CBS the detectors possess an AI algorithm that can differentiate between a door and toilet lid slam and “when somebody is roughhousing in the bathroom.”
Peterson said there are no microphones built into the detectors.
Once anomalies are detected, the school’s principal, Frank Naccarato, is sent an immediate email.
The busted students will then be connected with professional intervention services.
“There’s still a consequence, but now we’ve added that education piece,” Naccarato said. “They also have to do a component of research based on vapes, how it hurts you.”
The district looked into the detectors at the suggestion of 15-year-old student Vanessa Probst, who noticed her classmates were so addicted to vaping, they were rushing to do it in the bathroom between classes.
“I was doing research on it, and I saw the side effects and how you can get popcorn lung, all the severe cancer you can get,” Probst told CBS.
The district installed the devices weeks ago, and they’ve already caught two student vapers.
The same detectors will soon be installed in school bathrooms in Copiague and Wyandanch.
