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Students, Teen Court and new sensors part of Sarasota Schools’ anti‑vaping push; pilot planned at North Port High
Summary
Board heard an update on a student‑led anti‑vaping task force, Teens Anonymous peer support groups, and expanded Teen Court partnerships. Dr. Green described restroom vape detectors and Smart Pass integration being considered for a pilot at North Port High; cost quotes and a rollout plan are pending.
Superintendent Mark Connor and student leaders highlighted a multi‑pronged anti‑vaping initiative the district says has helped reduce vaping incidents across Sarasota County schools.
District staff presented three years of discipline data showing downward trends in tobacco/nicotine infractions and DRU (drug) CESSER offenses. Staff said repeat offender counts declined districtwide and reported only three DRU repeat offenders in the current 2025‑26 data pull. Dr. Clayton and task‑force students described a student‑led approach that pairs education, enforcement and support, including a new Teens Anonymous peer support program run in partnership with Teen Court.
The Teen Court partnership provides case managers who can meet students on campus, deploy tiered interventions and, for repeat offenses, offer online substance‑abuse classes. The district announced a community Teen Court night and outreach event set for April 20 at North Port City Hall to build parent awareness and encourage community engagement.
Dr. Green described three vendors (Verkada, Halo and XONCE) and the technical differences among them. All vendors offer restroom‑mounted sensors that detect vaping and THC vapor and that can send real‑time alerts to administrators; Verkada includes an outside restroom camera integration to correlate entries and build trend dashboards, Halo provides people‑counting in restrooms, and XONCE installs sensors in air ducts and emphasizes broader campus security integrations. Smart Pass, a digital hall‑pass and student‑tracking tool deployed at North Port, can be paired with sensors to timestamp alerts and more precisely identify which students were in a restroom when an alert occurred.
Board members praised the student leadership and Teen Court partnership and asked about administrative capacity, privacy and annual costs. Dr. Green said the district is awaiting a final vendor quote and will return with cost estimates and an infrastructure plan; she noted lessons from other counties that initial alert spikes can occur and that analytics and targeted responses ease long‑term workload by eliminating problem hotspots.
Board members also asked whether new construction (Wellen Park High) would have sensors built in; staff said such devices would be added after construction rather than being factory‑built into the school. The board encouraged a careful pilot at North Port and asked staff to return with cost, rollout and communications plans for families and staff before any procurement.
