KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- They may come in harmless sounding flavors like blue raspberry and watermelon, but the effects of e-cigarettes and vaping can be harmful. That’s why middle schools and high schools in the Kenosha Unified School District are doing their part to slow down vaping inside schools.

In 2024, more than 1.6 million middle and high school students reported using vapes or e-cigarettes, according to the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“In 2018 I was surprised to see it get popular,” said Cliff Johnson, the assistant principal of Tremper High School.

The district was one of many schools nationwide that received more than $100,000 following a national lawsuit against e-cigarettes called Juul.

“We used the money to install vape detectors to try to combat an issue that we thought was significant not just here in Kenosha, but I think country wide as well,” said Johnson.

Inside each bathroom at Tremper High School, vape detectors will send an alert to school leaders when a student uses a vape. Parents say they hope this deters the use of e-cigarettes and vapes inside the building.

“I don’t think that kids should be smoking or vaping or doing anything like that,” said Marco Giese, a Tremper High School parent

In just one week, Tremper high School received more than 400 alerts. School officials say more than 100 kids admitted to vaping.

“Those are just the students that we caught so we know that it’s a problem,” said Johnson.

Parents say it's a way to keep students safe from the harms of vaping.

“If some kids get caught vaping as a result of the detectors, maybe it’ll bring awards to other students that never really thought about it,” said Giese.

School officials say it’s technology that could help fix a nationwide issue.

“Vaping got ahead of us and as a result we had to catch up. And this is our opportunity to catch up,” said Johnson.