School officials are hoping a new product installed in bathrooms will help deter vaping at school.
During his regular report at Monday’s Lakeshore Public Schools Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Greg Eding informed board members the district has installed several vape detectors in several district bathrooms.
“We’re looking at the possibility of installing these in all secondary bathrooms,” Eding said. “Right now, we are just in the testing phase with those.”
Eding did not specify what brand of vaping detectors are being tested, but a common device installed in many schools over the past few years in schools is called the HALO Smart Sensor. According to the product’s website, vape detectors “accurately monitor the quality of air and detect dangerous vaping chemicals when present in school bathrooms and send notification alerts to assigned faculty members. They are an effective and affordable solution, and their visible presence acts as a deterrent.”
During the meeting, Eding also introduced the district’s new School Resource Officer, Michael Dorr. Dorr is a 25-year veteran of law enforcement, and has previous experience as a school liaison officer prior to joining the Lincoln Township Police Department.
“[Dorr] has been busy getting into buildings and developing relationships with students and staff,” Eding said. “He will soon be presenting to classrooms on several topics such as the dangers of vaping and other high-risk behaviors.”
In other school safety business, Dorr announced that a group of administrators attended a crisis training event hosted by the Michigan State Police at Western Michigan University.
“This event helped with fine-tuning our threat assessment process,” Eding said. “There will be a follow-up training that’s coming up in January.”
