Rural Arkansas school among first to install vaping detectors

FULTON COUNTY — As concerns about youth vaping continue to plague the country and the state, one small school district in north Arkansas is doing something about it.

The Salem School District recently installed vaping detectors at the high school.

This rural school is among the first in the state to do so.

The devices, which cost about $1,000 each, detect particles that are released during vaping.

The Salem School District paid for two of them out of its own budget and placed them in the two main high school restrooms.

At first glance, the devices look like a smoke detector, but they’re detecting much more than that.

“Even if a student tries to mask it by blowing into their shirt or blowing into the toilet or blowing it anywhere in the room, it’s going to set it off,” Superintendent Wayne Guiltner says.

When the detector goes off, it sends an e-mail to the high school principal.

“We feel like everybody’s got to take some kind of stand against it,” Guiltner says of the persistent vaping problem. Guiltner says the detectors have been in place since last month. He says the school district was averaging one vaping- related suspension every couple weeks.

The district notified parents and students that the devices were being installed.

Since the installation, no one has been caught.

“If you know that you’re going to be caught, it’s easy to say no,” Guiltner says.

Guiltner says the district plans to purchase more vaping detectors for locker rooms, and he expects other school districts around the state to follow suit.

Guilter believes the only other schools to have vaping detectors installed include some areas in northwest Arkansas and near Batesville.

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JONESBORO — For the third time in a little more than 12 hours, Jonesboro police found themselves investigating a shooting.

The latest one, according to Jonesboro police, happened around 9:40 a.m. Thursday, in the 4000-block of Keely Drive.

Officers said the victim was shot two times. They were treated at the scene then taken to a local hospital, according to the Jonesboro Police Department. Investigators continue to process the scene and are searching for the suspect.

While no other details were made available, to keep students, faculty, and staff safe, Nettleton Public Schools placed its high school, junior high, and STEAM campuses, as well as its administrative offices, on “soft lockdown.”

This latest shooting comes a little more than 12 hours after Jonesboro police responded to two shootings Wednesday night on Arch Street and in the area of Vine Street and Stroud Avenue.

Sally Smith, public information specialist for the Jonesboro Police Department, tentavely said that detectives do not believe those shootings are connected. No word on if Thursday’s shooting has any connection to them.

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Search underway for missing Little Rock woman

LITTLE ROCK — Little Rock Police are asking for the public’s help to find a missing woman.

Jakenya Strong’s family told police she went to the Arkansas State Fair around 1 p.m. last Monday and did not come home. She has not been seen since.

Police say the 18-year-old may be with her boyfriend, who lives at the Summer Tree Apartments in North Little Rock.

If anyone sees Strong or knows where she may be, they are urged to call detectives at 501-404-3042.