Lincoln, Neb. (KOLN) — Lincoln Public Schools says it’s preparing to equip the rest of its schools with e-cigarette detectors. The move comes in response to a pilot program and installation at East High School, as well as the district’s efforts to stem the growing e-cigarette trend. Ryan Zabawa, director of student services, said feedback from teachers about the smoke alarms has been positive. Surprisingly, he says, feedback from students has been good, too. “They can go back to the bathroom and use the toilet because the kids are not going to the stalls to vaping anymore,” Zabava explained. “We’re seeing a lot of kids coming to class on time because they’re not spending time vaping in the bathroom anymore.”
According to LPS, e-cigarette violations have spiked in high schools across the district. But at Southeast High School, e-cigarette violations have been steadily decreasing since the rule was put in place. The alarms are very sensitive to detecting THC and nicotine. In the first week of the second quarter, when the alarms were installed, LPS reported 98 vaping alarms went off in bathrooms and locker rooms. “In the last week of December, we had four alerts,” Mr. Zabawa said. “As a result, we have seen a significant reduction in the number of alarms in bathrooms.” In short, the district thinks the pilot went well. LPS plans to install e-cigarette detectors in bathrooms at all middle schools in the district by the end of the project.
The school district says it has $900,000 available to install and maintain more detectors thanks to a settlement by JUUL, a major e-cigarette brand.
