It’s been three months since De Pere High School has installed the vape detectors in the bathrooms, and the bathrooms have never smelled better.
According to Principal Mr. Allen, at the beginning of the installment, in October, the vape detectors were picking up any spray that was potentially a vape. They would go off primarily after school due to the janitors cleaning supplies or from spray deodorant. The school, working with Halo (the vape detector software company), now has calibrated the technology to pick up those events as “masking” and is able to solely focus on vape events, THC (cannabis) events, or someone tempering with the detectors.
After the alarm goes off it sends a signal to the office and goes into the hands of Mr. Allen, Mrs. Jeskie, Mr. Thielhelm, and Liaison Officer Arkens. They handle each case differently, but the steps are the same: Ask questions, have a potential search (ask student(s) to empty pockets), if vape found, Officer Arkens gets involved, then suspension and citation.
When installed originally, the vape detectors detected 10-15 incidents per day. However, that number has gone down drastically. For example, on Jan. 6, it only went off twice Mr. Allen said.
Surprisingly, there isn’t one bathroom that stands out from the rest. According to Mr. Allen, “It’s been pretty even.” He noticed that most cases happen pre-flex and during flex, so the administrative team made a conscious effort to stop those cases by limiting passes during that time.
Mr. Allen said, “We try to be more visible during flex time as well, just to be in the hallways checking in with students. That’s probably been the biggest change for us.” Due to their effort, vape detector alarms have noticeably gone down quite a bit during that time.
When talking about “next steps”, Mr. Allen suggested waiting until the end of the school year to see if the school would be willing to buy the $300 Halo software service fee, or if it would even be worth it.
If they do end up paying it, they might start looking into putting detectors into the locker rooms. Mr. Allen said, “We’ve gotten better at locking the locker rooms during the day. At least the ones in the back by the band room.”
Mr. Allen previously said that the vape detectors will “take reporting the incidents out of the kid’s hands.” That statement still stands. Prior, Mr. Allen and the AP’s relied heavily on student tips through Crime Stoppers. He claimed that Crime Stopper tips have decreased since the installment of the detectors, but they still take any tips – big or small.
With vaping considerably down during school, Mr. Allen can now focus on what the main issue is: helping the kids struggling with a nicotine addiction.
“We see that far too often,” Mr. Allen said.
