{"id":390141,"date":"2026-09-04T09:20:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T09:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/390141\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T09:20:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T09:20:19","slug":"hillsborough-schools-expanding-vaping-detectors-to-middle-k-8-campuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/390141\/","title":{"rendered":"Hillsborough schools expanding vaping detectors to middle, K-8 campuses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Expanding \"Expanding Expanding vape detectors to more schools<\/a> <\/p>\n

Hillsborough County Public Schools is expanding its use of vaping detectors to middle schools and K-8 campuses as the district works to prevent and more quickly respond to vaping on school grounds. FOX 13’s Kellie Cowan reports.<\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. – Hillsborough County<\/a> Public Schools is expanding its use of vaping detectors to middle schools and K-8 campuses as the district works to prevent and more quickly respond to vaping on school grounds.<\/p>\n

Hillsborough schools vape detector expansion <\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

The district began using HALO Smart Sensors in high schools last year.<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS: Hillsborough school district expanding vaping detector program to all high schools<\/a><\/p>\n

The sensors are designed to detect airborne vapor and immediately alert school staff when vaping is suspected.<\/p>\n

According to the district, the technology can detect vapor from a variety of substances, including tobacco and marijuana, as well as products designed to mask the smell of vaping.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The devices can also function as decibel meters, allowing them to alert staff to unusually loud sounds that could indicate a fight or other incident.<\/p>\n

The district says the sensors do not record audio or video.<\/p>\n

Student restroom safety impact <\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

Vaping has become increasingly common, including among young people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The district says many students have complained of bathrooms becoming unusable as other students occupy stalls to vape.<\/p>\n

Bloomingdale High School was one of the first in the district to install vape detectors. Principal Marcos Rodriguez\u00a0says they\u2019ve helped to cut down on in-school vaping significantly.<\/p>\n

“As we’ve gotten these alerts it hasn’t completely eliminated the issue, but it’s really gained a lot of traction. Our students know that now it’s being monitored and it’s allowed that sense of being able to go and use the restroom again without having any sort of vaping or any of those incidents going on,” Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

According to the Food and Drug Administration, more than 2 million U.S. teens reported actively using tobacco products in 2025. E-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product among teens.<\/p>\n

Smoking and vaping are prohibited on all Hillsborough County Public Schools campuses.<\/p>\n

Student health and safety <\/p>\n

Why you should care:<\/p>\n

The district says expanding the detectors is part of a broader effort to reduce vaping, support student health and help schools respond more quickly when conflicts occur.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Students who violate district rules regarding vaping can face consequences outlined in the HCPS Student Code of Conduct<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Installation timeline details <\/p>\n

What we don’t know:<\/p>\n

District officials have not released a specific completion date for every middle school and K-8 campus.<\/p>\n

The Source: Hillsborough County Public Schools provided the information about the expansion of vaping detectors and their capabilities.<\/p>\n

Hillsborough County<\/a>Education<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Expanding vape detectors to more schools Hillsborough County Public Schools is expanding its use of vaping detectors to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[113,47,629,115,135,137,136,628],"class_list":["post-390141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-education","tag-fl","tag-hillsborough","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}