CAPE CORAL, Fla — The Lee County School District is testing out a vape detector pilot program in five schools.
Estero High School, Cape Coral High School, Fort Myers High School, Lexington Middle School and Caloosa Middle School are trying them out in the bathrooms.
"The vape detectors detect the vape chemicals in the air and notify administration," said Rachel Gould, director of student services for the southern part of the district. "The vape detector will constantly update to the change in chemicals in vapes."
Take a look at the detectors here:
Once it's detected, the detector's technology will notify staff on their computer or an app.
Administration can look at cameras outside the bathrooms to see which student may have set off the detector.
The program is paid for by JUUL following a settlement for $5 million targeting kids in their ads.
"It's important. We need to make sure kids are following healthy habits and understanding what they're doing to themselves when they're vaping," Gould said. "This year we are giving schools a program so that students can learn about the harm of what vaping is doing to them, but also involving parents."
Each detector is $1,000 and the program is about $680,000 for the five schools.
"We need to support them and help them understand what it’s doing to them," Gould said. "Don’t vape at school. Don’t vape at all. It’s dangerous it’s not healthy for you and we want you to make better choices."
The district will look at the data to see if they plan to put detectors in other schools at later date.
