Lehighton Area School District is planning to use a vape sensor in one of its high school bathrooms on a trial basis through the end of the school year.

Gretchen Laviolette, director of instructional technology and curriculum development, said Lehighton was offered the trial through Verkada, the California cloud-based building security and operating system developer the district is using for an upcoming security camera purchase.

“It isn’t just here in our district but everywhere that we are running into an increase in vape use, especially among teenagers,” Laviolette said. “I would hope that just the fact we have it in the bathrooms would stop students from doing what they are not supposed to be doing.”

Vape detectors can detect the chemicals released by e-cigarettes and alert school officials when vaping is occurring.

Statistics from Lehighton’s School-Wide Information System, a tool designed to help districts collect and manage behavioral referral data, show 15 such referrals at the high school and nine at the middle school for 2023-24 related to vaping.

“That does not include all of our Safe2Say tips,” High School Principal Sue Howland said. “One vape cartridge is equivalent to 21 cigarettes. If you sit down and talk to our students, some will tell you they go through two cartridges a week. Students are truly addicted to nicotine and THC products.”

According to the National Youth Tobacco Survey in 2021, more than 2 million high school students in the United States reported using e-cigarettes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention labeled vaping among youth as an “epidemic.”

Northern Lehigh and Pleasant Valley are among the Pennsylvania districts that have installed vape sensors.

Laviolette told the board she would check into what, if any, liability the district would hold if the sensor is damaged.

“I have heard stories from Northern Lehigh about students trying to mess with the equipment,” Board President Jeremy Glaush said. “It’s a crazy little fad and I hope this device can help us.”

Lehighton’s board will vote on the trial May 28.