LANCASTER, S.C. — South Carolina health leaders will talk to local parents about the epidemic of youth vaping on Thursday night. The problem has become even more apparent in Lancaster County where the district installed vape detectors in some schools January.
Lonnie Plyler, the director of safety and transportation for Lancaster County Schools, says the district installed vape detectors in bathrooms at Lancaster High School.
“It sends us an alert on our phones and to school administrators,” Plyler said. “They can go to the bathrooms and stop everybody to make a search.”
Plyler says since the detectors were installed, they’ve received more than 400 alerts about vaping devices.
“The volume that we’re getting in our schools, even in our middle schools, keeps growing and growing and growing, and we don’t know what’s in these vapes,” he said.
School leaders say they confiscate a couple of vaping devices from students at local middle and high schools every day.
Those students face a 10-day suspension. The district may soon expand this program to other schools.
Thursday night, South Carolina health officials will speak to parents about the vaping epidemic in a virtual conference.
Officials want kids and parents to be aware of the trends and educate themselves and each other.
The latest numbers from 2021 show the number of high school students in South Carolina who reported vaping was higher than the national average.
>> Join the Virtual Parent University: Vape Talk at 6 p.m. on Feb. 22.
VIDEO: Lancaster County Schools wants e-cigarette detectors to curb students’ vaping
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