Vaping in Miami-Dade County school bathrooms? Better think again
MIAMI - So far, nine Miami-Dade high schools have installed vape sensors in student bathrooms and Broward schools are considering similar measures.
Sunset High School, in West Kendall, is just one school to declare war on teen vaping, having already suspended nine students.
"Many teenagers are under the impression that vaping is a lesser of smoking and it is not," said Guillermo Muñoz, Director at the Miami-Dade Office of District Operations, who is in charge of installing the sensors at the public high schools.
"So, any time anyone utilizes a vape in any of the restrooms, that vape will send an alert to the (school) principal," said Muñoz.
"And, we get notified on our phone (through an application)," said Rudy Rodriguez, principal of Sunset High School. He told CBS News Miami that every vape detector has a threshold of 50, which is a normal atmosphere. Seventy-four, shown in his phone, is what let them know a student was vaping in a bathroom.
Outside the bathroom, cameras are installed on campus, so students who came into the bathroom before the alert and after are recorded.
"If it's a one-time offense, is a warning. We contact the parents. We let them know and if it's multiple offenses, it could be up to a suspension of three days," said Rodriguez.
"The CDC has said over 2 million students in the U.S. are using vaping devices," said Miami Brenda Wilder, the Executive Director of Miami-Dade Comprehensive Student Health Services. "Students can have respiratory issues, cardiovascular issues, memory loss and more."
In Miami-Dade, the University of Miami found an increase in teens in just under a decade.
Teens using E-cigarettes in Miami-Dade County went from 2.6 percent in 2012 to 16.5 percent in 2021, according to the University of Miami Health Education Center.
Miami Jackson High School and Homestead High School are on the list of schools with devices installed.
Per Miami-Dade Public Schools, the other campuses are not revealed because the principals want their names retained.
Broward County Schools say they are considering installing vape sensors in their schools.
