Lynchburg City Schools installs vape detectors in high schools

LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) — Lynchburg City Schools have a new system in place to keep students safe. The district added vape detectors in all of the bathrooms at E.C. Glass and Heritage High School.

They detect vaping tobacco and THC, and can also detect if a student is trying to mask the smell of a vape with cologne.

The devices set off an alarm when it's triggered and it sends an alert to administrators.

Dr. Derrick Brown, the Director of Student Services with LCS said this lets administrators respond quickly and get students the help they need.

"It alerts us to students who may be engaging in dangerous behavior. Whether that is horseplay, or aggressive behavior, or vaping," Brown said.

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Brown said the system also lets students use voice commands to get help in a hurry. If they say "Help there's an emergency," then it will let administrators know.

Brown said these detectors are a proactive measure.

"We really just don't want students forming poor habits that are going to impact them later on in their life and we want them to be as safe as possible and forming good habits," Brown said.

The district is looking to expand them to locker rooms as well.

Phase one of the plan was getting these in high schools. The school system hopes to put them at all of their middle schools as well.