A pilot project at Summerland Secondary School has cleared the air in school washrooms, where students once gathered to vape.
Alan Stel, principal of the high school, said the vape detector pilot project was introduced following complaints from parents and students about safety in the washrooms.
Stel said some students would gather in washrooms to vape, leaving others feeling uneasy.
Through the pilot project, vape detectors were installed in washrooms at the school at the beginning of November.
Stel said the use of vape devices had become rampant at the school.
The detectors look like smoke detectors or carbon dioxide detectors. Within seconds, the device will send an email alert to school staff, reporting the incident. Stel said hairsprays can also trigger the devices.
In addition to the detectors, cameras are installed nearby, just outside the washrooms, and can track who is inside.
The detectors cost around $2,000 each and were installed in the washrooms where vaping was most prevalent.
Stel said within three weeks, there were no more complaints about vaping in the school washrooms.
Vaping, smoking and other nicotine use are not permitted anywhere on school property.
Data from Statistics Canada from 2022 shows 12 per cent of Canadians 15 and older smoke cigarettes. The rate is lower in British Columbia.
In 2021, a Lung Health Foundation study estimated 670,000 youths between 14 and 30 vaped daily. By 2022, this figure had risen by 80,000 and had reached 750,000 youths between the ages of 14 and 30.
Stel said when he started working at the high school eight years ago, students would go just off school property to smoke cigarettes. Later, after the COVID-19 pandemic and related measures, there was a transition to vaping devices rather than cigarettes.
Because of the good response to the vape detectors at the high school, Stel hopes to see the program expanded to other schools within the Okanagan Skaha School District.
