by Taylor Adams ‘27

The work of Sherwood’s security guards potentially became easier with the installation of vape detectors in bathrooms to combat vaping and marijuana use by students. Since the detectors became fully functional in late April, security has received an average of 50 alerts every day, including both vape and marijuana detection.

When a vape detector picks up vaping particles or marijuana smoke, it alerts school administration and security through an app on their phones, as well as sending them an email. Then, security officers or administrators will go down to the bathrooms and escort students to the office. However, there is a complication at Sherwood because there are no female security guards currently working at the school. To handle the vaping alerts in girls’ bathrooms, the school either sends a female administrator to go into the bathroom or a male security officer to wait outside the bathroom for the students to come out, according to Principal Tim Britton.

In August of 2024, MCPS announced that it had reached a settlement with e-cigarette maker Juul, which provided them $2 million dollars in funding. This money was for the purpose of installing vape detectors in bathrooms and high traffic areas in high schools to minimize vaping. Schools have just recently started implementing these, including Sherwood.

While the detectors can pick up both marijuana and vaping, there isn’t a way to differentiate between those based on the detection. According to Britton, sometimes the detectors will even pick up things that are not related to vaping or marijuana and send a false alert. Due to this, security can’t tell if students were vaping or smoking marijuana unless they confiscate a physical item.
While this recent change has received negative feedback from some students, there may be genuine benefits. A concern was raised that installing the vape detectors in bathrooms wouldn’t be very effective as it would just divert students to other areas of the school to vape and smoke in. However, the reason that students keep vaping in bathrooms is because “there will never be cameras in bathrooms, so they feel safe to vape there,” explained Britton. Now that there is a way to catch them vaping in bathrooms, it may prove to be a strong barrier for vaping.

Britton notes that he hasn’t seen a decrease in students vaping in bathrooms, but he has seen a large increase in the number of students getting caught. While there has not yet been a noticeable decrease in students vaping, Britton believes that changes to student behavior may be more apparent next school year.