ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - There's a new trend around high schools nationally and it's a trend to stop a ever constant problem.
Vaping has been a constant for many high schools nationally, with schools attempting to find solutions to stop it, with about 2.8 million middle and high school students having been found to be using tobacco products in 2023, according to the annual National Youth Tobacco Survey, amounting to about 10% of students overall.
Now some schools have looked to another avenue to attempt to fight this problem: advanced technology.
Many schools are looking to advanced technology like vape sensors to capture students vaping in places like restrooms and locker rooms - where it is illegal to install cameras.
"It's just like a circular device in the ceiling that is constantly monitoring the air," said Garrison Parthemore the Sales Manager for Triton Sensors, a company providing these detectors on Total Information A.M. "It monitoring for any smoke based drug like marijuana or THC, or a traditional cigar smoke."
"Obviously you can't have a traditional camera (in restrooms and locker rooms) due to privacy concerns. It hard for staff members to do frequent monitoring, so we designed these devices to keep these areas safe."
When the sensors detect something like a vape being used, it then sends an alert to school administrators or security, so they can go to the location of the alert and address the issue quickly.
Parthmore says that when these sensors have been installed, schools that have installed them has seen a reduction in vaping.
"Overall, we see a 75% to 80% reduction in vaping when these sensors are installed," said Parthmore. "So it's kind of must have for schools."