De Pere High approves vape detection system after 36 incidents last year

DE PERE — Students may not have a chaperone or a guard inside their bathrooms, but starting this year, they will have a presence of another kind.

The Unified School District of De Pere school board this week approved spending $45,762 on vape detectors for inside restrooms at De Pere High School.

The devices, called Halo 2C Smart Sensors, send a signal when they detect a vaping device in use in the restrooms. Cameras outside the restroom determine who is in the restroom at the time the device goes off.

The sensors can send text messages and emails to authorized staff.
“When the device goes off, it triggers the camera system,” Technology Director Curt Pieschek said.

According to the Halo 2 sensor’s website, the sensors can detect, in addition to vaping, gun shots, vandalism, after-hours access, fights, THC, vape masking, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and volatile organic chemicals in the air.

They can also sense persons calling for help.

The detectors will be installed on ceilings in single-stall and common bathroom areas used by students at the high school.

Ivy Jeskie, assistant principal at the high school, said last year the school had about three dozen reported incidents of vaping. About a third involved THC products.

The current system for reporting vaping incidents relies on students reporting each other, followed by interviews of those who happened to be present in the bathroom at the time.

One caveat about the Halo 2 sensors is that perfumes and body sprays can activate them, according to Pieschek.

The devices are expected to be installed mid October.

They include men’s and women’s bathrooms on the first floor commons area; near classroom D126 on the first floor; men’s and women’s restrooms on the first floor E wing; men’s and women’s restrooms on the second floor B wing; men’s and women’s restrooms on the second floor E wing; and the restroom of classroom C222 on the second floor.

According to the district, sensors will be placed above the bathroom stalls for best coverage.