It’s no doubt that the vaping and bullying epidemics are on the rise. In statistics from stopbullying.gov, 28% of grade 6-12 students admit they have been bullied and only 20%-30% of those confide in an adult.

In separate statistics from drugabuse.gov, 7 out of 10 teens are exposed to vaping and e-cig advertising. Of those that do try vaping, 66% think that the vapor is just flavoring and more than 30% will start smoking within 6 months. 

A large driver for Norris is our mission to help schools keep their kids safe. The protective shield Norris provides spans from life-safety systems like fire alarms and security systems like intrusion detection, video surveillance, and access control to keep ingress and egress doors secure, as well as emergency notification and systems integration systems to get the word out, and provide situational awareness in the event of an emergency. However, it also includes sensors for detecting and notifying on vaping and bullying.

Norris was onsite May 29th, 2019 at MSAD 6 speaking about the dangers of vaping and bullying and letting attendees know what they could to do to combat the problems. In attendance were school officials consisting of Superintendents, IT Directors, Principals, and Assistant Principals.

Norris had detection/notification solutions for vaping, including standard spot detection, laser view detection, Xtralis Vesda Aspiration Detection, and the Halo by IPVCorp. 

In addition, they also had scream detection solutions from Talkaphone, and IPVCorp (the Halo detects both vaping and screaming).

They were also displaying their emergency notification platform and systems integration engine, Vigilance.

Norris CEO Jason Roberts said that both vaping and bullying were continuous and serious issues at all the schools Norris helped to protect and felt strongly that the informational session would benefit the customer.

“We showed the customer 3 vape technologies and 2 bully technologies all integrated to Vigilance,” he said. “We compared the pros and cons of all the technologies.” Norris life-safety and security experts then helped the customer understand and decide what the right fit was.

“It is a hot topic amongst schools right now, they are truly concerned about student safety,” Roberts said.

MSAD 6 Technology Director Scott Nason said the problem wasn’t going away.

“The challenges of protecting students within the walls of our buildings are always changing.  A few years ago, student encounters in hallways were a problem, so we installed video cameras to assist in the monitoring of the hallways.  Those encounters moved outside the building, so we installed cameras outside.  While we have not eliminated all of those issues, we have reduced them,” Nason said. “The present-day challenges are what’s happening in student bathrooms and locker rooms–two areas that are very difficult to monitor.  Students could be vaping in the bathrooms or bullying other students and staff may never know because of the inability to supervise every bathroom and locker room every minute of the school day.”

He said the visit from Norris was very helpful.

“Today’s presentation of 4 different technologies that could be used in bathrooms and locker rooms was very eye-opening.  Combined with the integration of Vigilance, we were given some options and strategies to help with the monitoring of these problematic areas,” he said. “These technologies are going to become necessary pieces of a school’s infrastructure in the near future.”

Drop Norris a line today to see how we can help you keep them safe.

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What is Norris all about?

Norris, Inc.—a South Portland, Maine-based life-safety and security systems integrator with satellite offices in Bangor, Maine; Lee, New Hampshire; and Burlington, Vermont—was founded nearly 40 years ago by two brothers, Brad and Harty Norris. The brothers remain on the board of directors today and continue to help steer the enterprise toward its goal of advancing life-safety, security, and communications while striving to grow in its status as Northern New England’s leading systems integrator. Norris provides fully integrated life-safety and security solutions, comprising disparate systems including fire alarm, intrusion detection, access control, video surveillance, communications, and emergency notification and total systems integration via the Vigilance Systems Integration Engine and ENS.