Montgomery County high schools had a toilet problem.

It wasn’t that the toilets were broken. But when students flushed them — as they tend to do — it would sometimes trigger a sensor intended to detect illicit vaping, according to campus staff.

Montgomery County Public Schools leaders asked for a $2 million appropriation to install HALO Smart Sensors in every high school bathroom by last May. The sensors, which resemble smoke detectors, are designed to monitor air quality and send an alert to campus staff when they sense vape emissions. With the devices looming, district officials hoped students would be discouraged from sneaking into the stalls to vape.

But in a survey, several high school administrators described the sensors as useless. Instead of helping them crack down on e-cigarettes, the devices flooded their inboxes with hundreds of false alarms that they said were triggered by things like flushing toilets or a spritz of perfume.

Plus, administrators said, some students had simply switched to vaping in the staircases.

“Students realized that they don’t work and are now [unfazed] by them,” one staffer reported.

“To be blunt, the sensors are going off too often for them to be useful. Perhaps they are too sensitive? Today, a SINGLE normal school day, our sensors generated LITERALLY over 500 alerts by the final school bell,” wrote another.

District officials acknowledged at a summer school board meeting that the biggest challenge during the initial rollout was false notifications. The sensors can also be triggered by loud noises that may signal “aggression.”

“We are working with our vendor to determine how to balance device effectiveness and more accurate notifications to decrease this response for the coming school year,” said Marcus Jones, the district’s security and compliance chief.

It’s unclear what kind of progress the district made by the time students returned to school this fall.

“We will share updates with the community and the board on the vaping detectors as soon as we have information to report,” MCPS spokeswoman Liliana López told The Banner Montgomery in an email.

For years, county leaders have sounded the alarm about e-cigarettes as a pervasive public health issue among young people. Roughly 18% of Montgomery County high schoolers have used an electronic vapor product such as a vape, according to Maryland’s 2022-23 Youth Tobacco Survey.

The HALO Smart Sensors installed across county schools were purchased using money from a settlement with e-cigarette manufacturer JUUL. Montgomery County Council members approved the $2 million appropriation last year.

A spokesperson with the parent company, Motorola Solutions, declined a request for an interview.

The company has sold vape detection sensors to schools across the country, many of which paid for them using a financial windfall from legal fights with JUUL. School leaders are among those who have accused the e-cigarette manufacturer of targeting young people with its marketing, leading to big-dollar settlements in recent years.

HALO has webpages dedicated to instructing school officials how to funnel settlement funds toward purchasing its sensors.

To Jen Folkenroth, the American Lung Association’s senior director of nationwide tobacco programs, vape detection sensors are not a good use of the money.

Her organization heard a range of complaints from school officials about this kind of technology: In addition to the false positives, teenagers found ways to tamper with the devices. Responding to the frequent alerts can also strain school staffing capacity, Folkenroth said.

“These are very expensive ornaments on the wall that are really used as a scare tactic,” she said, adding that young people need evidence-based intervention to help them quit.

HALO’s website lists testimonials from other school leaders across the country who say the devices helped them crack down on vaping.

In the MCPS staff survey, some responses indicated that the sensors might have served as a deterrent.

“Many schools noted a slight decrease in vaping and reduced bathroom congregation, suggesting that sensors may be discouraging some students from vaping,” according to district documents

Students can face disciplinary action if they’re caught vaping.

“Vape sensors can serve as supportive evidence in disciplinary actions related to vaping incidents, but they will be used in conjunction with other corroborating evidence or witness statements,” a district FAQ page states.

Dr. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, a professor of pediatrics in adolescent medicine at Stanford University, said the installation of sensors “doesn’t necessarily deter vaping because students know where the detectors are.”

“They just go somewhere else,” she added.

Halpern-Felsher said she is not opposed to the technology, but emphasized that the sensors must be paired with programs to educate students on vaping and prevent them from picking up an e-cigarette in the first place.

For the students who have already begun vaping, she said, school leaders should invest in cessation resources.

“They’re addicted, and they need some help,” Halpern-Felsher said. “So let’s give them some help.”