\n<\/p>\n
It\u2019s this creeping surveillance that gives some students pause, even those who told The 74 they otherwise support vape detectors in bathrooms. The possibility of unknown capabilities with the sensors is \u201cvery scary to me\u201d said Moledina, the Austin teen, who worries about a future where bathrooms come with cameras.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust knowing that there is vape smoke in the bathroom doesn\u2019t really help you because the administrators already know it\u2019s happening, and just by knowing that it\u2019s there isn’t going to help them find out who is doing it,\u201d he said. \u201cSo my concern is that, at the end of the day, we\u2019re going to end up having cameras in bathrooms, which is definitely not what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Minneapolis educators have used surveillance cameras in conjunction with the sensors to identify students for vaping in the bathrooms, discipline logs show.<\/p>\n
In February, for example, a Roosevelt High School senior was suspended for a day based on accusations they hit a weed vape in the bathroom. Officials reviewed footage from a surveillance camera outside the bathroom and determined the student was \u201centering and exiting the bathroom during the timeframe that the detector went off.\u201d They were searched, and administrators found \u201ca marijuana vape, an empty glass jar with a weed smell and a baggie with weed shake in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That same month, educators referred a Camden High School student to a drug and alcohol counselor for \u201cvaping in the single stall bathrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter I reviewed the camera it does show [a] student leaving out that same stall bathroom,\u201d campus officials reported.<\/p>\n
Gutierrez, the 18-year-old from Arizona, said she quit vaping after she was suspended and now copes with depression through positive means like painting. What she didn\u2019t do, however, was quit because she received help at school for the mental health challenges that led her to vape in the first place.<\/p>\n
She stopped vaping while she was suspended, she said, because she was away from her friends and lacked access. She was frightened into further compliance, Gutierrez recalled, by the online lessons depicting vaping as a gross, gooey purple monster that would poison her relationships.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes I stopped, but it wasn\u2019t a good stop,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t get no support. I didn\u2019t get no counseling. I stopped because I was scared.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n