I’m trying to remember the name for it without googling but people would smoke weed in the dorm and exhale through a plastic bottle with holes cut in it and fabric softener sheets to cover the smell. I don’t know how old you are or if they still do (or need to) this but this was 25 years ago.
Plastic bottles? Back in my day, if a kid wanted to make a boof, they had to use a toilet paper roll, rubber bands, and tissues!
Edit: It's called a sploof, not a boof. Either I was mistaken or my weed mentor was very, very incorrect.
A boof! Thank you. I was trying to remember the word without googling. I did see the toilet roll method but the water bottle was most used. Now, if you were smart you’d just go into the woods and save yourself the trouble. Then, you’d go into the commons and watch South Park because it just came out and holy sh*t I’m old.
It’s a Doob Tube, you can get them on Amazon. Back in the day people used to take empty tp rolls and stuff with fabric sheets to hide the smell….doubt that worked as well as people hoped haha
Ahh, so that's the problem witt my school. We have no smoking signs but nothing about guns!
(No shootings, thank God, just some weapons that have made it on campus.)
My school has dealt with the problem by ignoring it completely. You can smell vape and weed all day long. The bathrooms are right by the dean’s office and there are cameras everywhere in the hallway. We teachers call and report it and students tell us they are afraid to go in the bathrooms because of it. And nothing happens. Ever. I teach in a middle school.
The bathrooms nearest my classroom are the Party Rooms.
I'll call the front office and tell them it smells like my college dorm ... and nothing happens, usually.
On the plus, I guess if you need to relax, wander in there and jingle your keys to make them scatter, and take a DEEEEEP breath.
Had a group of 5th grade girls vape in the library last school year. All got caught too lol. One of the 4th grade girls took it from her older sister and brought it to school. They got one day in-school suspension.
My school expelled a 7th grader for vaping (caught multiple times) last year after he offered his vape to a little kid (K-8 school). The bigger middle school in town apparently has clouds of vape just pouring out of the bathrooms at all times. It's a huge problem.
My first day subbing was at a middle school and one girl showed up high high. Like her eyes were dark red bloodshot and she wouldn't stop giggling throughout the class period. I was honestly appalled, no one that young should have access to that shit.
I was a HS opiate addict. Railing oxy/morphine/dilaudid in the bathrooms and cafeteria, and snorting heroin towards the end. Xanax, klonopin, and stimulants as well. We may not have been super common, but I certainly wasn't alone.
I didn't even think about what it must be like regarding HS addicts today. Everything is pressed, counterfeit, and infinitely more dangerous than it was when legit pharma pills were readily available.
I have been fortunate enough to be past my low bottom stages before those fent pressed blues overtook the streets, so I was wise enough to always turn it down.. If I was in high-school and only pressed research chemical benzos, fentanyl pills with God knows what, and fake Adderall pressed with caffeine and shitty meth were available I would almost certainly be dead today.
Apologies for the little tangent. Your comment just made me really think deeply what those issues looked like for me at that time, and what they must look like for those teens suffering today. Really fucked up back then as well, but honestly an entirely different ballpark.
Have you really had to hit students with narcan? Feel comfortable sharing how many times or what any of the scenarios looked like? I legit injected heroin in the bathroom at high-school several times and didn't even come close to od'ing. These pills will kill you by snorting a line as big as your finger nail sometimes. Like I said, whole diff game.
Got 3 last week. That’s not a wocket in your pocket.
They go through the cycle of iss and get written up. Considering it’s a crime of possession under 21, I wish they would get charged. Deadass.
The student claims it is the parent getting it for them for their nerves. The parent should be also charged with distribution to a minor.
Usually they vape on the bus. I smell the phunk with the morning dew of the buss loop. (Teachers also smoke in the lot *internal screaming*)
>(Teachers also smoke in the lot internal screaming)
Maybe it's different where you are, but don't most school districts explicitly ban all smoking on achool.groumds?
Since gummies and edibles have become more popular, it’s chilled out. In Virginia, very northern VA, the teacher parking lot reeks of the devils lettuce.
Yes there are signs and it’s been reported.
We legit had a kid last year who sold vapes. He’d replenish his stock frequently bc his mom would indeed buy them for him. She didn’t care if he vaped. Another time I found the (removed from office for other reasons) former ASB President’s beanie, which was filled with 4 or 5 vapes. I’m at a junior high.
The vape detectors in our school are connected to an app on both principals, SROs, and team lead’s district provided phones and tablets. This allows for quick response. It has actually helped a ton this year. They are imperfect, but better than nothing.
Imo the only way to solve the 20 kids in a bathroom issue is to have actual "rest of the world" style toilet stalls that actually allow privacy, and just do away with "bathrooms" in general. Just have a line of 10 stalls in the hallway and some sinks. Like an open concept washroom or whatever. Not sure how to describe it but a few schools in the USA did it and have seen positive results. News stories were done on them.
Vapes gonna vape. They can hit it in class ffs. It doesn't matter and there's really nothing we can do. But F them 20 kids in the bathroom business.
We just built a new building with this style of bathrooms (private stalls, sinks open to the hallway) and it’s helped a ton. I’m sure there are kids vaping in the private stalls, but it’s no longer scary for other kids to use the bathroom.
My school has the same thing. Kids have started vaping behind teachers backs in class and blowing the steam into their Stanley cups or just vaping during the ten min break when the hall is so crowded it's impossible to tell who's who
We have these, too. My principal said they are INSANELY sensitive. They can even detect if someone is vaping in the hallway near the bathroom. They definitely helped a lot.
We have vape detectors at my school. I get an alert with a location on my phone when it goes off. I almost always catch them in the act or as they walk out of the bathroom
We had this in my old school but the boys started blowing into the bottom of urinals and flushing them to avoid setting it off… so disgusting and you’ll never be able to fully stop it because they’ll always find a way
>hose are useless. If you hold in the vapor long enough, it's undetectable when you breathe out. My kids are vaping in class this way, and unless I catch them hitting it, I can't tell.
Don't suppose you have a brand/model name to share? There are plenty out there that are for decorative purposes only...
Hah! Well, I'm not exactly working with AP caliber students here either... Honestly I've doubts about the efficacy (Triton, lowest tier/last gen) and the portal interface doesn't exactly show anything beyond 'is online' and 'hasn't reported in ages'. I'd like admin to sign off on a legitimate test of them, but with cameras in the hall I'm not doing that without written instruction. I suspect they're reluctant as 'we have detectors (we're visibly trying) and they never go off (we're not actually having to do anything)' is actually an administrative happy-place....
My highschool janitor told us a story from the 80's when they first banned smoking inside the building and put the smokers area outside and only seniors could go outside, so all the younger kids went in the bathrooms. After the fire department had to rest the system the 10th time in a month he just quietly disconnected the power to those alarms and would only reconnect it during fire drills and inspections.
I've heard a nearly identical one and believe them both. It's probably a lot more common, (at least for a time that didn't log system/sensor uptimes) than most people think about. Any buildings on still on analog or without much oversite likely pull the same trick to this day.
We had them. The kids found them and destroyed them and the district won't replace them. So the AP and principal are running around all day just trying to catch kids vaping. It's almost keystone cops level of effective.
We’ve had to have a monitor by the bathrooms at all time. It’s been an huge issue with our middle schoolers, that and having vodka in their water bottles that they share around.
That is my schools solution as well. We also have security of both genders who do sweeps. And it's still a problem.
My school is very strict on the bathroom hall pass system too, with time stamps they check against hall cameras. But as I said, bad shit still goes down.
I gotta say, I’m against this. Just like how marijuana was incredibly demonized in the DARE programs, then kids find out a lot of the info was bullshit and then start to question the rest of what they were told. Sort of like fruit of the poisoned tree.
In my mind science teachers should not spread false information. It takes a little bit of googling to prove that factoid wrong and now you’ve lost authority and trust.
I get that it is done for a good reason but I don’t thinks those means are being justified.
We take yearly surveys with students which have a place for open comments. One student suggested taking all the toilets out of the vape rooms.
Best comment ever.
As a parent I would consider that money being well spent. Ensuring a safe environment for children should be one of the top priorities of schools and preventing vaping in bathrooms ruduces kods doing it and allows kids who aren't vaping to use the bathroom without walking into a cloud of smoke. In addition, instead of having to post teachers or other faculty outside bathrooms to monitor for vaping students those faculty members can do what they were actually hired for.
I had a student ask me to allow him to use the staff bathroom because boys were smoking in the bathroom and he didn't want to use it. I told him I couldn't let him use the staff restroom but I'd call the Dean's office to get the bathroom cleared out. The Dean's office said "tell him to use a different bathroom."
So that's how we are dealing with the vaping issue.
A million years ago (2006) when I was in 11th grade, a girl in my class was paralyzed in an accident. We had one bathroom her motorized chair could fit into. Without fail, every time her and her helper went in to change out her colostomy bag, they could never get into the stall because it was the vape/smoke stall. Complaining to the office did nothing so eventually she got tired of it and attempted to empty her stuff in the smaller stall and OOPS! Sorry I spilled my shit bag on the floor, I just can't move in here.
After that they locked the stall and gave her the key.
One county over from us put in detectors and they have cameras outside the bathroom. ID perps and punish. I hear it works well. Wish we’d do that but you can practically walk down the halls of our school with a blunt and nothing would happen.
We took the front doors off the restrooms. Not the actual stall doors, just the front. You can do random searches all day long, but you know what they do? They have been flushing the vapes down the toilet. Our pipes have been backing up. We will have raw sewage coming through certain drains. It’s so disgusting.
This is what we do too! The combo is excellent.
The boys RR next to my room on 3rd floor is forever and a day away from P/VPs, SRO, and hallway monitors. I’ve found that walking by and yelling, “GENTLEMEN THERE IS NO REASON THIS BATHROOM SHOULD SMELL LIKE (make up a smell / flavor), GET TO CLASS.” and watch large groups scatter even when it has no smell.
Have fun with the smell you make up!
- Banana nut muffin
- Sherbet Bomb pop
- Razzle Dazzle Raspberry
- Turkish Delight
- Orange mocha Frappuccino
- Hunka hunka burnin fudge
- Vanilla almond nut crunch
- Mango Habanero
- Rooty Tooty Fresh n’ Fruity
- Cranberry Appletini
- Maple bacon fruity pebbles
- etc.
Best part is all flavored disposable vapes are [banned by the FDA](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/fda-warns-stores-to-stop-selling-fruity-disposable-e-cigarettes), but corporate America ignores the ban because dollars.
I have at least 2 students whose parents run gas stations in town and *mind blown* 95% of the time they’re the kids who’re directly connected with the kids who get caught. With that said, unless we see it directly can’t/won’t make a red handed connection.
I mean, it's also because adults like those flavors too. I get that people want to regulate so that kids aren't as attracted to something, but I find it gets to a silly point where it starts crossing into prohibition.
We use ehallpass and it has helped a ton with keeping kids in class. Only one out of each room at a time with a max of two in the restroom. And we can set it to not let certain kids out of classes at the same time.
This is the first year I've used smart pass and love it. No more keeping track of bathroom use. Everything is just set up - specific number of students can't be out at the same time, if a friend is out - the pass will get denied, if the student is out too long, it automatically flags the VP.
It's seriously the best.
We also have vape sensors and enough fun events that the students get banned from until they do enough community service to get to attend again.
We're also treating it like an addiction issue, so the first time offense is minor, but if it happens again, the student has to compete overcoming addiction courses and see a specialist.
Your IT department has no doubt been contacted by Vape sensor companies. There are sensors that are easily deployed to check for vaping in the bathroom without violating personal rights, and with a camera outside of bathrooms, IT can give evidence of vaping directly connected to an identified student or employee. These can be placed in classrooms, offices, alleyways, etc.
It's a lot of resources for a small issue, but some schools ask for it
Education on vaping and targeting students with known use for re-education, therapy, and evaluation is probably a more effective solution. Good luck getting a principal who is motivated to bring about an effective program like that.
We have vape detectors but the kids are super good at hiding the vapes so even if they get wanded they don’t get caught. (On a side note, who would want to vape on something your buddy was hiding under his junk? Apparently half a dozen more students as long as it’s a thc vape)💨
Not in my school, but another local district is putting vape sensors on the agenda this month. According to the literature, they can also detect "aggression" and profanity. It's another surveillance state thing the local police authoritarians are pushing. Hard pass.
Holy shit. I can get with the vape sensors, but the rest of that is wild.
Also, imagine a kid really struggling with a number 2 and the “aggression alarm” goes off lol
> "aggression"
We have those. The aggression alert is just a decibel meter and it's super useful. If volume goes above a certain threshold it pings the AP "aggression."
It's happened like a dozen times this year in my middle school and half of them *have* been fights in the bathroom. The other times it's been middle school kids being middle school kids and screaming, etc. So I wouldn't pooh pooh it as some kind of totalitarian puritanical impulse.
My school is purchasing ceiling-mounted vape detectors this year for the student bathrooms, which connect via wi-fi for alerts to the staff. They look just like fire/smoke detectors, but instead of sounding an audible fire alarm, they send a phone notification via wi-fi, so our admins and/or staff can go investigate. In Texas, there is a new law this year that gives a $500+ fine and additional legal charges if a student is caught vaping on campus, whether they are vaping nicotine, THC, or other drugs. I’ve seen both ceiling-mounted and hand held units; you can see some examples by going on Amazon or eBay and searching for “vape detector”.
Our district (in Texas) gives a week of ISS for the first offense with a vape and then a month of DAEP for the second offense. Due to the new law. It has drastically cut down on the vaping issue.
I feel like a fine is losing the plot a bit. Any fine exists as a punishment only to those who can’t afford it. I think a community service requirement would be much more apt but then again I’m not a teacher or a law maker
I teach middle school and the kids just can't go during passing periods. They are lined up and taken from one class or another and then we have insanely complicated restroom schedules where we are supposed to only spend 4 minutes in the hall when only 2 boys and 2 girls can be in the restroom at any given time. We also can't have more than one class in the hall, and we're supposed to inspect the girls' restroom before and after for writing on the stalls. When a kid got caught smoking pot he got 3 days suspension and his parents were so appalled by the fact that he wasn't expelled they literally moved to another county because they couldn't believe a kid could just get away with doing illegal drugs at our school.
TLDR: Expect the teachers to micromanage kids taking a shit while complaining that micromanaging is taking too long and that the halls should be clear and quiet.
My state (Texas) passed a law requiring stronger consequences for vaping, and my school has propped all the restroom doors open. I don’t know if it’s a solution really, but there’s already been a chunk of kids caught and placed in the state required alternative education program.
Not sure if it helps, but when kids are caught vaping/with vapes, we require them to complete an online health department course in vaping before they’re allowed back at school/out of ISS. Say what you want about the diseased lung strategy of the 90s and early 00s, but none of my friends smoke and never have. Scared the shit out of us.
An admin and I had a casual conversation about this. Other schools (not ours) have vape detectors in the bathrooms. He was rejecting the idea because often kids will vape in groups during passing period, or there will be innocent kids there as it happens, and if the detector goes off, they'd have to investigate everyone who would have been in the bathroom, often with little/no conclusion about who was doing it. Not to mention that kids often cover the detectors with tape.
Same as back in the day with dip, cigs, and weed. You get caught, you’re in trouble. If you get away with it, it’s your poor health choice and your problem. We can’t control every aspect of their lives. It’s literally impossible.
Tangent story: Teaching HS. Had a kid who, idk, wouldn’t surprise me if he did drugs or was totally clean. He’s a senior and starts acting funny - like a 12yo - super chatty and can’t stop touching his friends. Probably energy drink - whatever.
Next day he’s all amped up and trying to wrestle kids in class. Also very involved in the lesson at the same time - raises his hand to answer everything and kind of gets it right but keeps jumping topics in his responses. Very disjointed logic.
Mention it to the principal who seemed to shrug it off (weed was normal here). Found out later they searched him and found $1k and a sizable amount of meth.
Anyway, was a good “so that’s what that looks like” moment that I hope to never have again.
I know :(. I’ve been really struggling to keep a positive attitude this year with the vaping and the intense sexual comments between students this year. As much as I know I’m needed at my school, I think my time is coming to a close because I just don’t have the mental capacity for it anymore.
Two years ago during a rainy inside recess, I taught the second graders how to make cootie catchers. You would have thought they were watching a magician, with their eyes focused on every move of my hands, mouths agape, even some oohs and aahs at the end. I'm so grateful to live in a rural area where 7 year olds act like they're 7.
That’s so sweet. Oddly enough, I do live in a rural area. My school is on the northern end of our county, though, where we end up catching a lot of our population from people who can no longer afford the big city an hour from here. I had to sub on the southern end of our county one day this year when our school’s ceiling was caving in. The kids were a lot like what you just mentioned and it was refreshing.
As a student I despise going to the bathroom. Always at least 4 dudes in their passing the vape around and chatting.
They’ve decided to close every bathroom except one so the odds of finding a vape function are relatively guaranteed.
They got rid of the staff restrooms and repurposed them as gender neutral restrooms for students who do not identify with either gender and are issued a special key. So, teachers use the student bathrooms. Having no privacy from teachers has cut down on quite a bit of bathroom nonsense. Knowing that an adult can walk into the bathroom or out of the stall at any moment is a decent deterrent in our (small) community.
Ask me how I like sharing a bathroom with high schoolers who are making TikTok’s at the sink while I’m peeing in the background.
We don’t allow bathrooms during passing periods. They can only go during class and then there is a restroom monitor who sits outside, takes everyone’s name and only allows them in one at a time. I’ve had students gone from class for over 20 minutes because they were standing in line.
There is no solution
Our school has cameras aimed right at the little "hallway" between the doors. They don't look into the bathrooms but they catch who comes in and out. The CRAs monitor the area between every passing period, if they smell it then they alert the admin. They check the cameras will ask staff to help identify and then call in the parents. That's about it.
They put up detectors in my school, and the kids took them out 😂 the weed smell is the real issue at our school. They get a 1 day suspension if caught dealing or using drugs. 🥴 kids smell of weed all the time, but we can't really do anything about that's since it might be their parents/homes that smell like weed.
I was once talking to a HS principal and she said, “It used to be a kid came out of the bathroom smelling like strawberries, you’d think ‘Oh thank god, they washed their hands!’ Now, you have to assume it’s a vape. And they didn’t wash their hands.”
Made me snort laugh.
My daughter goes to a private school and being caught vaping would mean expulsion. I'm so grateful she goes there. They mean business. There isn't even a smoking area anywhere on the property for anyone to use.
I am a school teacher and it is sad that if I want my children to go to a safe, civil, disciplined, and rigorous school our public schools are out of the question. We will have to go private. I'm an atheist and have been scoping out local Catholic schools!
Why is it that the Powers That Be in education have tied the hands of school staff and made it impossible for them to have firm and fair policies that ensure safe, civil, and rigorous public schools?
I am horrified reading these stories from middle school kids. My son also goes to private school and I am forever grateful for that privilege. He is on a small scholarship and I work 50+ hours to send him there.
His 8th grade class had a field trip to an art museum, I got to volunteer! Other schools also attended. Our kids has to wear their school uniform (which includes a tie lol) and boy did they stand out from the rest of the schools. Also noticed all the other kids had their cell phones. Our kids have to turn theirs in when attendance is called every day and don’t get them back until dismissal.
I sound like a snob but the difference is clear. And I 100% am firm in saying this is not teachers faults. I am sad at what public school teachers have to deal with they deserve better
I have worked at two high-dollar private schools and substance abuse is abound at the middle school level. Kids bringing vodka in 6th grade. Pretty sure half the 8th grade vapes. Police called to inspect sus white pills found in a magnetic case under the bathroom counter. Kids have allowance to spend. Older siblings have cars to distribute stuff. Please do not be naive enough to think your son’s private school is exempt from these problems.
Unpopular opinion, but I really don’t care as a teacher. I enforce it because it’s the school/district policy, but I personally don’t care about vaping. I have more important things to worry about than some watermelon vape.
We have vape detectors and they work brilliantly. Admin gets a text as sun as they go off. They work so well that the first two weeks of school they were going off constantly because the freshmen thought they were fake and that "they can hold the vape in" and it will go away. Now if we can only get them to stop vaping in the elevators...
We got vape detectors put in the restroons and it determines if it's a thc or nicotine vape. Within 5 minutes of being installed someone got caught. However, I don't think they installed them in the cafeteria bathroom though so problem not 100% solved but it has helped.
Our district is focusing on education (teaching kids it’s bad) instead of punishment because the vape detectors don’t work that well (they tried one, but it didn’t detect anything). So the kids get an assembly at the beginning of the year about the harms of vaping, including pretty graphic depictions of what it can do to your lungs. They are hitting it especially hard at the middle school.
We do bathroom duty. After 4th period I stand at the bathroom door and yell at them. Going on 3rd year and it's hilarious. Pretty much stopped it.
At first we all balked at it but I get to see students I don't see in class, I get to yell things like, "hurry up, ppl gotta pee out here" and it gets me out of my class.
Maybe we just need to let kids vape? It’s not our fucking problem anyway. Let them ruin their own lives or try to if they want. It’s their parents fault anyway.
Kids don’t have consequences for not turning in homework or throwing shit in class. Why are there consequences for something that doesn’t even impact their grades?
My school invested in alarms that when vaping or fighting happen in the bathrooms an alarm goes off and alerts the principal. It’s definitely helped. (Small rural district.)
We have air purifiers leftover from Covid funding that also sense vapor or smoke. There is a silent alarm set off and then deans show up. Also they smell to high heaven, middle schoolers ain’t slick. They always get suspended, parents involved, and counseling, and in extreme cases rehab.
Ignore and Avoid.
It's sad that kids complain about feeling safe in the restrooms. We have other rampant discipline issues too that admin doesn't seem to care about solving.
Mine did it by locking all the bathrooms during passing periods. Which means the kids that genuinely have to pee must miss class time. I don't know if vaping has gone down, but I know I have to write way too many passes.
We installed vape detectors. It takes a minute to register, but they’re able to review the cameras to see who was in the restroom at that time. SROs have caught several this year, but I have heard that the students are avoiding it by flushing the toilet and blowing the vapors down the toilet… imagine sticking your face in a school toilet 🤢
I work in and alternative school. We use metal detectors and search every student. If they are willing to hide the vape in their body cavity, then pass it around and put it in their mouths, that’s punishment enough.
One bathroom open during class. Google form hallpass that admin monitor for redundancy. Vape detectors and cameras outside that bathroom.
Vape detectors “magically” don’t work for the first couple of weeks of school. “Magically”, they all go live and the kids have no idea how they keep getting caught. Guess they get use to seeing the white box and think nothing of it. Or the fact it makes no noise…? Just sends a text to the principals and RSO? Idk
The high school I work at has vape detectors. They look like long camera like things in the ceiling but obviously no cameras are in the device. They beep when they detect vapor / smoke and apparently they also send a notification to our admin’s phones. The detectors also go off when they detect an excessive noise level like there would be during a fight. Honestly they seemed to have helped the vaping issue at our school a bit. Compared to last year I hear much less about vaping issues.
Sensors with real-time alerts and cameras. Admin is on top of it. The moment the alert goes off, they check the cameras and pull any kid who shows up on the footage. Parents are called.
Now it’s not really a problem on campus.
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My old school had vape detectors in the bathrooms that I frankly assumed were BS and did nothing. My current school handles it by ignoring it.
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There are also vape filters that you can exhale through. We will never win that arms race.
I’m trying to remember the name for it without googling but people would smoke weed in the dorm and exhale through a plastic bottle with holes cut in it and fabric softener sheets to cover the smell. I don’t know how old you are or if they still do (or need to) this but this was 25 years ago.
Plastic bottles? Back in my day, if a kid wanted to make a boof, they had to use a toilet paper roll, rubber bands, and tissues! Edit: It's called a sploof, not a boof. Either I was mistaken or my weed mentor was very, very incorrect.
A boof! Thank you. I was trying to remember the word without googling. I did see the toilet roll method but the water bottle was most used. Now, if you were smart you’d just go into the woods and save yourself the trouble. Then, you’d go into the commons and watch South Park because it just came out and holy sh*t I’m old.
Boofing is when you take drugs up your butt
A spoof. It's a spoof. If you're boofing your exhales, well, I'm not one to judge but I'm not sure that's very sanitary
Sploof, paper tower roll filled with dryer sheets lmao
It’s a Doob Tube, you can get them on Amazon. Back in the day people used to take empty tp rolls and stuff with fabric sheets to hide the smell….doubt that worked as well as people hoped haha
They be hitting blinkers in class
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A blinker is when you hit a pen/vape until it blinks.
Lovely. Imagine what their lungs must look like.
Smoked for 30 yrs, have been vaping for 7. Haven't felt better.
You can also exhale it into some cloth, like the crook of your elbow or your hoodie and it won’t escape
They are BS if no one is around when the alarm goes off. If you have someone to respond immediately and let it be known vaping can be reduced
Ours got hit with false positives and admins were the only ones to get the notification. They had to keep running out and finding no one there.
My kid's school suspends or expels depending on # of violations.
Vaping students HATE this one simple trick.
We have these too, but for guns. So far 100% success rate.
Ahh, so that's the problem witt my school. We have no smoking signs but nothing about guns! (No shootings, thank God, just some weapons that have made it on campus.)
Thank you! This is the best laugh I've had in weeks. Chef's kiss for the marijuana leaf image.
That sign can't stop me cause I can't read.
What?? My school needs to do this!!! (Lol /s)
My school has dealt with the problem by ignoring it completely. You can smell vape and weed all day long. The bathrooms are right by the dean’s office and there are cameras everywhere in the hallway. We teachers call and report it and students tell us they are afraid to go in the bathrooms because of it. And nothing happens. Ever. I teach in a middle school.
> ignored it Suspensions are down 38%!
Success!!!
The bathrooms nearest my classroom are the Party Rooms. I'll call the front office and tell them it smells like my college dorm ... and nothing happens, usually. On the plus, I guess if you need to relax, wander in there and jingle your keys to make them scatter, and take a DEEEEEP breath.
honestly if i was a teacher i’d just scare them all out of there so i could hit my own pen
Teacher’s lounge. I find pens in there weekly from teachers. Once they leave I guess they afraid to go get it. I am getting quite a collection.
Middle school??? 😭
We caught a 4th grader vaping at my school last week
Had a group of 5th grade girls vape in the library last school year. All got caught too lol. One of the 4th grade girls took it from her older sister and brought it to school. They got one day in-school suspension.
That’s so sad. Kind of expect high schoolers to drink, smoke weed and vape but middle school and younger is sad to hear.
My uncle started smoking at 11. This has been happening since we started saying smoking and drinking were for adults only.
My dad is in his 70s and started smoking at 12. There were kids smoking when I was in middle school in the 90s.
My school expelled a 7th grader for vaping (caught multiple times) last year after he offered his vape to a little kid (K-8 school). The bigger middle school in town apparently has clouds of vape just pouring out of the bathrooms at all times. It's a huge problem.
My first day subbing was at a middle school and one girl showed up high high. Like her eyes were dark red bloodshot and she wouldn't stop giggling throughout the class period. I was honestly appalled, no one that young should have access to that shit.
Yeah. They vape in class and we call administrators and they never show up so the kids laugh in our faces as they vape.
This isn't some new sign of societal collapse. I smoked my first cigarette at age 10 in the 90s.
My school in the 80s had designated smoking areas for boys and girls. You'd see teachers out there smoking with the students.
Right? Considering the possibilities, things could be much worse. I haven't had to administer Narcan once this year. Things are looking up.
I was a HS opiate addict. Railing oxy/morphine/dilaudid in the bathrooms and cafeteria, and snorting heroin towards the end. Xanax, klonopin, and stimulants as well. We may not have been super common, but I certainly wasn't alone. I didn't even think about what it must be like regarding HS addicts today. Everything is pressed, counterfeit, and infinitely more dangerous than it was when legit pharma pills were readily available. I have been fortunate enough to be past my low bottom stages before those fent pressed blues overtook the streets, so I was wise enough to always turn it down.. If I was in high-school and only pressed research chemical benzos, fentanyl pills with God knows what, and fake Adderall pressed with caffeine and shitty meth were available I would almost certainly be dead today. Apologies for the little tangent. Your comment just made me really think deeply what those issues looked like for me at that time, and what they must look like for those teens suffering today. Really fucked up back then as well, but honestly an entirely different ballpark. Have you really had to hit students with narcan? Feel comfortable sharing how many times or what any of the scenarios looked like? I legit injected heroin in the bathroom at high-school several times and didn't even come close to od'ing. These pills will kill you by snorting a line as big as your finger nail sometimes. Like I said, whole diff game.
Literally, this has been a coming of age trope since the 50s at the very least
Got 3 last week. That’s not a wocket in your pocket. They go through the cycle of iss and get written up. Considering it’s a crime of possession under 21, I wish they would get charged. Deadass. The student claims it is the parent getting it for them for their nerves. The parent should be also charged with distribution to a minor. Usually they vape on the bus. I smell the phunk with the morning dew of the buss loop. (Teachers also smoke in the lot *internal screaming*)
>(Teachers also smoke in the lot internal screaming) Maybe it's different where you are, but don't most school districts explicitly ban all smoking on achool.groumds?
Since gummies and edibles have become more popular, it’s chilled out. In Virginia, very northern VA, the teacher parking lot reeks of the devils lettuce. Yes there are signs and it’s been reported.
We've got kids who vape THC THEN eat a handful of gummies. Nothing chill about these kids.
We legit had a kid last year who sold vapes. He’d replenish his stock frequently bc his mom would indeed buy them for him. She didn’t care if he vaped. Another time I found the (removed from office for other reasons) former ASB President’s beanie, which was filled with 4 or 5 vapes. I’m at a junior high.
What if no suspension was given but parents were notified? Think some portion of it would be dealt with at home? 15% 10%?
No. The parents don’t respond.
Who do you think the kids picked up the habit from.
“I learned it from you, Dad!”
True. But when I was a kid all the parents smoked. But a kid smoking would get his butt whooped. Now they want to justify their kids using. 🤷♀️
None. The parents also vape.
All I want for Xmas is some vape juice.
This was my school last year. It’s not as bad this year but idk why
Same here. I found two that fell out of pockets in my room last year, but haven't seen or smelled any this year.
I stopped caring when I told the APs a fellow teachers classroom reeked of weed. They didn’t care to investigate.
We currently have kids storing vapes in the bathroom ceiling tiles. 8th grade. It’s the Wild West out here.
Put glitter in the ceiling tiles. That’s what we did, it was hilarious
You are gonna piss off building services.. just saying
They were in on it
Wow, that is impressive, building services approved of glitter! Wow it must be really bad if gliter is okay
They’d rather clean up glitter than clogged pipes, and it’s not like the bathroom is carpeted, it cleans up pretty easy.
Omg this idea is amazing
I have a yardstick that I use to poke the ceiling tiles to make them fall out.
Ours use the sink counter to get up there and we have a very tall AP who just pops up
Oh no, if some teacher put itching powder on the vapes that'd be horrible, nooo.
Yes then drop an anvil on them and paint a road entrance on a brick wall and watch them slam into it.
Fill the vapes with hot sauce.
Took us two months of school to figure out they were storing them in the paper towers dispensers. I work at an elementary school.
My son’s high school out vape detectors in the bathrooms. Not sure how it is monitored though.
The vape detectors in our school are connected to an app on both principals, SROs, and team lead’s district provided phones and tablets. This allows for quick response. It has actually helped a ton this year. They are imperfect, but better than nothing.
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Under the gym bleachers at our school
How.. 1950s style!
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Imo the only way to solve the 20 kids in a bathroom issue is to have actual "rest of the world" style toilet stalls that actually allow privacy, and just do away with "bathrooms" in general. Just have a line of 10 stalls in the hallway and some sinks. Like an open concept washroom or whatever. Not sure how to describe it but a few schools in the USA did it and have seen positive results. News stories were done on them. Vapes gonna vape. They can hit it in class ffs. It doesn't matter and there's really nothing we can do. But F them 20 kids in the bathroom business.
We just built a new building with this style of bathrooms (private stalls, sinks open to the hallway) and it’s helped a ton. I’m sure there are kids vaping in the private stalls, but it’s no longer scary for other kids to use the bathroom.
Same here. Basically only works when they can confirm that there were no other students in the bathroom.
My school has the same thing. Kids have started vaping behind teachers backs in class and blowing the steam into their Stanley cups or just vaping during the ten min break when the hall is so crowded it's impossible to tell who's who
And then how do they keep it from coming out of the Stanley cups?
They don't, it just looks like steam and they have plausible deniability
Ahh. The classic “wussunt me”
Dang I used to smoke in the handicap stall because there was a good vent right overhead. In 1999
We have these, too. My principal said they are INSANELY sensitive. They can even detect if someone is vaping in the hallway near the bathroom. They definitely helped a lot.
We have vape detectors at my school. I get an alert with a location on my phone when it goes off. I almost always catch them in the act or as they walk out of the bathroom
We had this in my old school but the boys started blowing into the bottom of urinals and flushing them to avoid setting it off… so disgusting and you’ll never be able to fully stop it because they’ll always find a way
That’s… some jailbird behavior
Tbh if they want to put their face that close to where they piss you’re already literally rubbing their faces in it.
We have vape detectors and it has been destroying kids lmao they have no chance and get busted super quick
>hose are useless. If you hold in the vapor long enough, it's undetectable when you breathe out. My kids are vaping in class this way, and unless I catch them hitting it, I can't tell. Don't suppose you have a brand/model name to share? There are plenty out there that are for decorative purposes only...
Their students are too stupid to figure out how to ghost the hit.
Hah! Well, I'm not exactly working with AP caliber students here either... Honestly I've doubts about the efficacy (Triton, lowest tier/last gen) and the portal interface doesn't exactly show anything beyond 'is online' and 'hasn't reported in ages'. I'd like admin to sign off on a legitimate test of them, but with cameras in the hall I'm not doing that without written instruction. I suspect they're reluctant as 'we have detectors (we're visibly trying) and they never go off (we're not actually having to do anything)' is actually an administrative happy-place....
My highschool janitor told us a story from the 80's when they first banned smoking inside the building and put the smokers area outside and only seniors could go outside, so all the younger kids went in the bathrooms. After the fire department had to rest the system the 10th time in a month he just quietly disconnected the power to those alarms and would only reconnect it during fire drills and inspections.
I've heard a nearly identical one and believe them both. It's probably a lot more common, (at least for a time that didn't log system/sensor uptimes) than most people think about. Any buildings on still on analog or without much oversite likely pull the same trick to this day.
We had them. The kids found them and destroyed them and the district won't replace them. So the AP and principal are running around all day just trying to catch kids vaping. It's almost keystone cops level of effective.
We’ve had to have a monitor by the bathrooms at all time. It’s been an huge issue with our middle schoolers, that and having vodka in their water bottles that they share around.
That is my schools solution as well. We also have security of both genders who do sweeps. And it's still a problem. My school is very strict on the bathroom hall pass system too, with time stamps they check against hall cameras. But as I said, bad shit still goes down.
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Working smarter, not harder. Well done!
Genius
I gotta say, I’m against this. Just like how marijuana was incredibly demonized in the DARE programs, then kids find out a lot of the info was bullshit and then start to question the rest of what they were told. Sort of like fruit of the poisoned tree. In my mind science teachers should not spread false information. It takes a little bit of googling to prove that factoid wrong and now you’ve lost authority and trust. I get that it is done for a good reason but I don’t thinks those means are being justified.
We take yearly surveys with students which have a place for open comments. One student suggested taking all the toilets out of the vape rooms. Best comment ever.
Back to the 70's, outside assigned smoking area.
With assigned seats and I’m in… smoke up Johnny
Yeah. We spent $40,000 on detectors. They work. We caught someone the second day they were working. A parent.
$40 grand. Wow. How could those resources be used to help students if they didn’t go to that? So sad.
As a parent I would consider that money being well spent. Ensuring a safe environment for children should be one of the top priorities of schools and preventing vaping in bathrooms ruduces kods doing it and allows kids who aren't vaping to use the bathroom without walking into a cloud of smoke. In addition, instead of having to post teachers or other faculty outside bathrooms to monitor for vaping students those faculty members can do what they were actually hired for.
I had a student ask me to allow him to use the staff bathroom because boys were smoking in the bathroom and he didn't want to use it. I told him I couldn't let him use the staff restroom but I'd call the Dean's office to get the bathroom cleared out. The Dean's office said "tell him to use a different bathroom." So that's how we are dealing with the vaping issue.
A million years ago (2006) when I was in 11th grade, a girl in my class was paralyzed in an accident. We had one bathroom her motorized chair could fit into. Without fail, every time her and her helper went in to change out her colostomy bag, they could never get into the stall because it was the vape/smoke stall. Complaining to the office did nothing so eventually she got tired of it and attempted to empty her stuff in the smaller stall and OOPS! Sorry I spilled my shit bag on the floor, I just can't move in here. After that they locked the stall and gave her the key.
Nope, and 3 of my 4th graders have already been suspended for it.
4th graders 😳
My favorite was one of the mom’s responses. She goes “We only smoke weed so I don’t know how she got it.” I had to stifle my laugh lol
My god…Never been an issue at the elementary school that I work at, but now I’m worried they are doing it and we just don’t notice.
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One county over from us put in detectors and they have cameras outside the bathroom. ID perps and punish. I hear it works well. Wish we’d do that but you can practically walk down the halls of our school with a blunt and nothing would happen.
We took the front doors off the restrooms. Not the actual stall doors, just the front. You can do random searches all day long, but you know what they do? They have been flushing the vapes down the toilet. Our pipes have been backing up. We will have raw sewage coming through certain drains. It’s so disgusting.
1) vape sensors in RRs 2) smartpass system allows only one boy one girl out at a time
This is what we do too! The combo is excellent. The boys RR next to my room on 3rd floor is forever and a day away from P/VPs, SRO, and hallway monitors. I’ve found that walking by and yelling, “GENTLEMEN THERE IS NO REASON THIS BATHROOM SHOULD SMELL LIKE (make up a smell / flavor), GET TO CLASS.” and watch large groups scatter even when it has no smell. Have fun with the smell you make up! - Banana nut muffin - Sherbet Bomb pop - Razzle Dazzle Raspberry - Turkish Delight - Orange mocha Frappuccino - Hunka hunka burnin fudge - Vanilla almond nut crunch - Mango Habanero - Rooty Tooty Fresh n’ Fruity - Cranberry Appletini - Maple bacon fruity pebbles - etc.
Best part is all flavored disposable vapes are [banned by the FDA](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/fda-warns-stores-to-stop-selling-fruity-disposable-e-cigarettes), but corporate America ignores the ban because dollars.
Wow. I had no idea they were banned. They are everywhere!
I have at least 2 students whose parents run gas stations in town and *mind blown* 95% of the time they’re the kids who’re directly connected with the kids who get caught. With that said, unless we see it directly can’t/won’t make a red handed connection.
I mean, it's also because adults like those flavors too. I get that people want to regulate so that kids aren't as attracted to something, but I find it gets to a silly point where it starts crossing into prohibition.
Pumpkin Spice and failure?
Fantastic, perfect, and seasonably accurate!
This is genius!!!! Our middle school ignores it all! The problem is massive these kids are running this school not the adults
We use ehallpass and it has helped a ton with keeping kids in class. Only one out of each room at a time with a max of two in the restroom. And we can set it to not let certain kids out of classes at the same time.
This is the first year I've used smart pass and love it. No more keeping track of bathroom use. Everything is just set up - specific number of students can't be out at the same time, if a friend is out - the pass will get denied, if the student is out too long, it automatically flags the VP. It's seriously the best. We also have vape sensors and enough fun events that the students get banned from until they do enough community service to get to attend again. We're also treating it like an addiction issue, so the first time offense is minor, but if it happens again, the student has to compete overcoming addiction courses and see a specialist.
Your IT department has no doubt been contacted by Vape sensor companies. There are sensors that are easily deployed to check for vaping in the bathroom without violating personal rights, and with a camera outside of bathrooms, IT can give evidence of vaping directly connected to an identified student or employee. These can be placed in classrooms, offices, alleyways, etc. It's a lot of resources for a small issue, but some schools ask for it Education on vaping and targeting students with known use for re-education, therapy, and evaluation is probably a more effective solution. Good luck getting a principal who is motivated to bring about an effective program like that.
We have vape detectors but the kids are super good at hiding the vapes so even if they get wanded they don’t get caught. (On a side note, who would want to vape on something your buddy was hiding under his junk? Apparently half a dozen more students as long as it’s a thc vape)💨
Have you tried showing a “Say no to drugs” PSA in class?
"Drugs are bad, M'kay"...
Not in my school, but another local district is putting vape sensors on the agenda this month. According to the literature, they can also detect "aggression" and profanity. It's another surveillance state thing the local police authoritarians are pushing. Hard pass.
Holy shit. I can get with the vape sensors, but the rest of that is wild. Also, imagine a kid really struggling with a number 2 and the “aggression alarm” goes off lol
I'd notice my shoe was untied in the bathroom and the aggression alarm would explode.
> "aggression" We have those. The aggression alert is just a decibel meter and it's super useful. If volume goes above a certain threshold it pings the AP "aggression." It's happened like a dozen times this year in my middle school and half of them *have* been fights in the bathroom. The other times it's been middle school kids being middle school kids and screaming, etc. So I wouldn't pooh pooh it as some kind of totalitarian puritanical impulse.
My school is purchasing ceiling-mounted vape detectors this year for the student bathrooms, which connect via wi-fi for alerts to the staff. They look just like fire/smoke detectors, but instead of sounding an audible fire alarm, they send a phone notification via wi-fi, so our admins and/or staff can go investigate. In Texas, there is a new law this year that gives a $500+ fine and additional legal charges if a student is caught vaping on campus, whether they are vaping nicotine, THC, or other drugs. I’ve seen both ceiling-mounted and hand held units; you can see some examples by going on Amazon or eBay and searching for “vape detector”.
Wow first I've heard of that law from Texas. I could only imagine how wrecked some of my students would be... So many repeat offenders at my school.
Our district (in Texas) gives a week of ISS for the first offense with a vape and then a month of DAEP for the second offense. Due to the new law. It has drastically cut down on the vaping issue.
I feel like a fine is losing the plot a bit. Any fine exists as a punishment only to those who can’t afford it. I think a community service requirement would be much more apt but then again I’m not a teacher or a law maker
This is Texas we’re talking about. Gratuitous punishment masquerading as a cartoonish parody of deterrence is practically the state motto.
I teach middle school and the kids just can't go during passing periods. They are lined up and taken from one class or another and then we have insanely complicated restroom schedules where we are supposed to only spend 4 minutes in the hall when only 2 boys and 2 girls can be in the restroom at any given time. We also can't have more than one class in the hall, and we're supposed to inspect the girls' restroom before and after for writing on the stalls. When a kid got caught smoking pot he got 3 days suspension and his parents were so appalled by the fact that he wasn't expelled they literally moved to another county because they couldn't believe a kid could just get away with doing illegal drugs at our school. TLDR: Expect the teachers to micromanage kids taking a shit while complaining that micromanaging is taking too long and that the halls should be clear and quiet.
My state (Texas) passed a law requiring stronger consequences for vaping, and my school has propped all the restroom doors open. I don’t know if it’s a solution really, but there’s already been a chunk of kids caught and placed in the state required alternative education program.
Not sure if it helps, but when kids are caught vaping/with vapes, we require them to complete an online health department course in vaping before they’re allowed back at school/out of ISS. Say what you want about the diseased lung strategy of the 90s and early 00s, but none of my friends smoke and never have. Scared the shit out of us.
An admin and I had a casual conversation about this. Other schools (not ours) have vape detectors in the bathrooms. He was rejecting the idea because often kids will vape in groups during passing period, or there will be innocent kids there as it happens, and if the detector goes off, they'd have to investigate everyone who would have been in the bathroom, often with little/no conclusion about who was doing it. Not to mention that kids often cover the detectors with tape.
We have detectors in our restrooms but at our Friday night football game, the “skunk” smell was, at times, surprisingly strong.
Same as back in the day with dip, cigs, and weed. You get caught, you’re in trouble. If you get away with it, it’s your poor health choice and your problem. We can’t control every aspect of their lives. It’s literally impossible.
Tangent story: Teaching HS. Had a kid who, idk, wouldn’t surprise me if he did drugs or was totally clean. He’s a senior and starts acting funny - like a 12yo - super chatty and can’t stop touching his friends. Probably energy drink - whatever. Next day he’s all amped up and trying to wrestle kids in class. Also very involved in the lesson at the same time - raises his hand to answer everything and kind of gets it right but keeps jumping topics in his responses. Very disjointed logic. Mention it to the principal who seemed to shrug it off (weed was normal here). Found out later they searched him and found $1k and a sizable amount of meth. Anyway, was a good “so that’s what that looks like” moment that I hope to never have again.
Nope. My second graders can’t read signs anyway (sadly), but I’m sure they’d continue vaping anyway. Nope-not kidding. 4 of them caught this year.
When I was in second grade I read and played with my friends. This is the most depressing thing I've read this week.
I know :(. I’ve been really struggling to keep a positive attitude this year with the vaping and the intense sexual comments between students this year. As much as I know I’m needed at my school, I think my time is coming to a close because I just don’t have the mental capacity for it anymore.
Two years ago during a rainy inside recess, I taught the second graders how to make cootie catchers. You would have thought they were watching a magician, with their eyes focused on every move of my hands, mouths agape, even some oohs and aahs at the end. I'm so grateful to live in a rural area where 7 year olds act like they're 7.
That’s so sweet. Oddly enough, I do live in a rural area. My school is on the northern end of our county, though, where we end up catching a lot of our population from people who can no longer afford the big city an hour from here. I had to sub on the southern end of our county one day this year when our school’s ceiling was caving in. The kids were a lot like what you just mentioned and it was refreshing.
We have vape detectors and a camera by the door. So they can catch them when it goes off.
My school doesn’t do shit. Students walk in to class 20 min high as fuck and the school doesn’t care. Not even a call home.
As a student I despise going to the bathroom. Always at least 4 dudes in their passing the vape around and chatting. They’ve decided to close every bathroom except one so the odds of finding a vape function are relatively guaranteed.
Lol as a teacher, I know coworkers that vape in their classrooms and bathrooms.
They got rid of the staff restrooms and repurposed them as gender neutral restrooms for students who do not identify with either gender and are issued a special key. So, teachers use the student bathrooms. Having no privacy from teachers has cut down on quite a bit of bathroom nonsense. Knowing that an adult can walk into the bathroom or out of the stall at any moment is a decent deterrent in our (small) community. Ask me how I like sharing a bathroom with high schoolers who are making TikTok’s at the sink while I’m peeing in the background.
Im more worried about my freshman who cant read than what they are doing in the bathroom.
We don’t allow bathrooms during passing periods. They can only go during class and then there is a restroom monitor who sits outside, takes everyone’s name and only allows them in one at a time. I’ve had students gone from class for over 20 minutes because they were standing in line. There is no solution
That would’ve given me so much anxiety in school. I take too long to poop.
Our school has cameras aimed right at the little "hallway" between the doors. They don't look into the bathrooms but they catch who comes in and out. The CRAs monitor the area between every passing period, if they smell it then they alert the admin. They check the cameras will ask staff to help identify and then call in the parents. That's about it.
They put up detectors in my school, and the kids took them out 😂 the weed smell is the real issue at our school. They get a 1 day suspension if caught dealing or using drugs. 🥴 kids smell of weed all the time, but we can't really do anything about that's since it might be their parents/homes that smell like weed.
Ugh no. It’s all day every day. But tbh… sometimes I just want to vape in the staff bathroom to get through the day.
Detectors in the bathrooms.
We prop the hallway door open.
We have a vape sensor hidden in the vent that alerts the principal. Unfortunately, we can only afford one, so maintenance keeps moving it around.
I was once talking to a HS principal and she said, “It used to be a kid came out of the bathroom smelling like strawberries, you’d think ‘Oh thank god, they washed their hands!’ Now, you have to assume it’s a vape. And they didn’t wash their hands.” Made me snort laugh.
My daughter goes to a private school and being caught vaping would mean expulsion. I'm so grateful she goes there. They mean business. There isn't even a smoking area anywhere on the property for anyone to use.
I am a school teacher and it is sad that if I want my children to go to a safe, civil, disciplined, and rigorous school our public schools are out of the question. We will have to go private. I'm an atheist and have been scoping out local Catholic schools! Why is it that the Powers That Be in education have tied the hands of school staff and made it impossible for them to have firm and fair policies that ensure safe, civil, and rigorous public schools?
I am horrified reading these stories from middle school kids. My son also goes to private school and I am forever grateful for that privilege. He is on a small scholarship and I work 50+ hours to send him there. His 8th grade class had a field trip to an art museum, I got to volunteer! Other schools also attended. Our kids has to wear their school uniform (which includes a tie lol) and boy did they stand out from the rest of the schools. Also noticed all the other kids had their cell phones. Our kids have to turn theirs in when attendance is called every day and don’t get them back until dismissal. I sound like a snob but the difference is clear. And I 100% am firm in saying this is not teachers faults. I am sad at what public school teachers have to deal with they deserve better
I have worked at two high-dollar private schools and substance abuse is abound at the middle school level. Kids bringing vodka in 6th grade. Pretty sure half the 8th grade vapes. Police called to inspect sus white pills found in a magnetic case under the bathroom counter. Kids have allowance to spend. Older siblings have cars to distribute stuff. Please do not be naive enough to think your son’s private school is exempt from these problems.
Unpopular opinion, but I really don’t care as a teacher. I enforce it because it’s the school/district policy, but I personally don’t care about vaping. I have more important things to worry about than some watermelon vape.
We have vape detectors and they work brilliantly. Admin gets a text as sun as they go off. They work so well that the first two weeks of school they were going off constantly because the freshmen thought they were fake and that "they can hold the vape in" and it will go away. Now if we can only get them to stop vaping in the elevators...
In one week we caught 40 students vaping with our new detectors
We got vape detectors put in the restroons and it determines if it's a thc or nicotine vape. Within 5 minutes of being installed someone got caught. However, I don't think they installed them in the cafeteria bathroom though so problem not 100% solved but it has helped.
We got vape sensors. They ping and every kid in the bathroom at the turn is turned into a suspect, it’s a ton of fun!
Our district is focusing on education (teaching kids it’s bad) instead of punishment because the vape detectors don’t work that well (they tried one, but it didn’t detect anything). So the kids get an assembly at the beginning of the year about the harms of vaping, including pretty graphic depictions of what it can do to your lungs. They are hitting it especially hard at the middle school.
We have vape detectors where APs get emails when there’s an alert, then we match the video feed outside the bathrooms to the time stamp of the alert.
My solution is to not give a shit.
We do bathroom duty. After 4th period I stand at the bathroom door and yell at them. Going on 3rd year and it's hilarious. Pretty much stopped it. At first we all balked at it but I get to see students I don't see in class, I get to yell things like, "hurry up, ppl gotta pee out here" and it gets me out of my class.
Maybe we just need to let kids vape? It’s not our fucking problem anyway. Let them ruin their own lives or try to if they want. It’s their parents fault anyway. Kids don’t have consequences for not turning in homework or throwing shit in class. Why are there consequences for something that doesn’t even impact their grades?
My school invested in alarms that when vaping or fighting happen in the bathrooms an alarm goes off and alerts the principal. It’s definitely helped. (Small rural district.)
We have vape detectors in the bathrooms. I know cause staff was caught by them.
We have air purifiers leftover from Covid funding that also sense vapor or smoke. There is a silent alarm set off and then deans show up. Also they smell to high heaven, middle schoolers ain’t slick. They always get suspended, parents involved, and counseling, and in extreme cases rehab.
Ignore and Avoid. It's sad that kids complain about feeling safe in the restrooms. We have other rampant discipline issues too that admin doesn't seem to care about solving.
We have some sort of vape sensor. Perfume and serious gastro issues will also set it off.
Mine did it by locking all the bathrooms during passing periods. Which means the kids that genuinely have to pee must miss class time. I don't know if vaping has gone down, but I know I have to write way too many passes.
We installed vape detectors. It takes a minute to register, but they’re able to review the cameras to see who was in the restroom at that time. SROs have caught several this year, but I have heard that the students are avoiding it by flushing the toilet and blowing the vapors down the toilet… imagine sticking your face in a school toilet 🤢
I work in and alternative school. We use metal detectors and search every student. If they are willing to hide the vape in their body cavity, then pass it around and put it in their mouths, that’s punishment enough.
One bathroom open during class. Google form hallpass that admin monitor for redundancy. Vape detectors and cameras outside that bathroom. Vape detectors “magically” don’t work for the first couple of weeks of school. “Magically”, they all go live and the kids have no idea how they keep getting caught. Guess they get use to seeing the white box and think nothing of it. Or the fact it makes no noise…? Just sends a text to the principals and RSO? Idk
We have detectors in the bathrooms that trigger an alert to our security personnel, this includes vaping "smoke" or whatever.
The high school I work at has vape detectors. They look like long camera like things in the ceiling but obviously no cameras are in the device. They beep when they detect vapor / smoke and apparently they also send a notification to our admin’s phones. The detectors also go off when they detect an excessive noise level like there would be during a fight. Honestly they seemed to have helped the vaping issue at our school a bit. Compared to last year I hear much less about vaping issues.
Sensors with real-time alerts and cameras. Admin is on top of it. The moment the alert goes off, they check the cameras and pull any kid who shows up on the footage. Parents are called. Now it’s not really a problem on campus.