How these white boxes on the walls of high schools are 'combatting' vaping

Liam Todd doesn't remember much about his first hit of vape. 

"It wasn't anything special," says the Grade 12 student.

But he started doing it every day during that first year at Almaguin Highlands Secondary School in South River, a small town near North Bay.

"After a couple days of going on through it, you kind of get addicted and now you want a hit of vape," Todd said.

He remembers getting caught vaping inside a washroom that Grade 9 year, something that the Ontario government is now cracking down on. 

The province is spending $30 million this fall to install vaping detectors in high schools across Ontario that silently alert principals and teachers.

Almaguin Highlands was one of the first schools in the north to test them out three years ago and principal Heather Hickey says they've made a difference. 

"The young ones when they first arrive, they're trying to find their place with their peers and kids are offering it to them and they want to fit in. So we're just trying to combat that culture a little bit," she said. 

Hickey says it used to be common to find a crowd of students and a cloud of sweet-smelling vapour in the bathrooms at the school of 660 students, but now those who vape are "respecting the space."

"There's less groups in the washrooms. There's not like seven people standing there," said Grade 12 student Jenna Collings, who doesn't vape.

"I really noticed it before, you could smell it, but not so much now. It just smells like school."

Hickey believes the vaping detectors have encouraged students to cut back on how much they vape during the school day.

"That has led us to many, many conversations with students. Instead of the punitive approach, it's a supportive approach," she said.

"They're definitely not being used as a way to discipline kids, but to support them and give them the help that they need."

That support also includes providing students with an app that helps them quit and plans for a gazebo where students can hang out and play outdoor games without lighting up. 

Hickey says when they were first installed, the detectors were sending her text messages every 15 minutes, but now it's down to about a dozen times a day and one student vaping could trigger it several times.

"The detectors are great. But they're only as great as we're responsive to them," said Hickey, saying it is another thing for busy school staff to do, but worth it it in the end. 

"We care about them and we care about their health and kids that don't vape should be entitled to use a bathroom safely."

Many high schools in the northeast have yet to install vaping detectors, but they are already in place in schools in Timmins, New Liskeard and Sault Ste. Marie.

"It's a bigger issue than smoking, because it's a lot easier to do and not get caught," said Joe Maurice, a superintendent with the Algoma District School Board.

"It was a lot more obvious if someone was smoking, with the smoke and the smell. But with vaping, it can happen and it's very difficult to know it happened."

Back at Almaguin Highlands in South River,  Grade 12 student Liam Todd hasn't put a vape in his mouth for almost a week now.

"I know it's not the longest time, but it's something," he said, adding that he's breathing easier and expects to save hundreds of dollars a month.

"It's kind of scary in a sense. You know, you don't know what's going to happen with your lung health or your heart health down the road. So I figured it would be better to get it over with and quit now, because it's only going to be harder to quit later."