Schools around the country are installing sensors and cameras to crack down on student vaping and handing out harsh punishments for many who are caught.

When Aaliyah Iglesias was caught vaping at a Texas high school, she didn’t realize how much could be taken from her.

Suddenly, the rest of her high school experience was threatened: being student council president, her role as debate team captain and walking at graduation. Even her college scholarships were at risk. She was sent to the district’s alternative school for 30 days and told she could have faced criminal charges.

Like thousands of other students around the country, she was caught by surveillance equipment that schools have installed to crack down on electronic cigarettes, often without informing students.

  • kick_out_the_jams@kbin.social
    11·
    10 months ago

    During the pandemic, HALO noted on its website that monitoring indoor air quality was an approved use for federal COVID relief money.

    A leading provider, HALO Smart Sensors, sells 90% to 95% of its sensors to schools. The sensors don’t have cameras or record audio but can detect increases in noise in a school bathroom and send a text alert to school officials, said Rick Cadiz, vice president of sales and marketing for IPVideo, the maker of the HALO sensors.

    The sensors are marketed primarily for detecting vape smoke or THC but also can monitor for sounds such as gunshots or keywords indicating possible bullying.

    I don’t know that I’d trust a non-microphone sensor to be good enough to actually identify keywords, but you could probably tell if people were yelling or something.