- Leon County Schools introduced Fergi last week
- She's a vape detection dog
- The district hopes she can prevent students from using vaping devices
BROADCAST SCRIPT:
Leon County Schools is bringing in some extra help to fight vaping and it has 4 legs.
We met Fergie, the District's new vape detection dog, during a stop at Pineview Elementary. She's visiting schools across the county from elementary hallways to high school classrooms, sniffing out nicotine and THC devices.
Fergi will join Tango, a weapons detection dog.
Jimmy Williams, Chief of the Department of Safe Schools and Emergency Management, spoke with us about the initiative.
"The kids have an opportunity to interact with these dogs, so it's very important that there's no fear involved at all with these dogs."
The goal is to educate the children early about the harmful effects of vaping. They also want to catch vape use early and reduce how often it's found later.
Chief Williams says that between 2019 and 2020, teen usage of vapes rose nearly 30%. It's been on the rise every year since then, he says.
"Superintendent Hanna's initiative: prevention. It's a prevention initiative to keep our students not only safe but secure as well. We want them to be healthy, and part of that is preventing vapes from coming on campuses. The most important piece of that is preventing students from using vapes."
Chief Williams also said the objective here today is to keep students and staff safe.
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