Smoking Ban Lighting A Fire School Officials Say Pressure On Students Takes Up Time And May Increase Dropouts

School administrators worry they’ll drive kids away from diplomas if they crack down on student smoking.

Yet in the Spokane area, educators still spend a good chunk of time disciplining smokers.

“About 20 percent of my day is spent chasing kids who are smoking cigarettes,” Ray Stookey, assistant principal at East Valley High School, said Thursday.

At Deer Park High School, about a third of discipline cases revolve around student smoking, Vice Principal Mike Blair said.

The school administrators spoke to board members of the Spokane Regional Health District, who invited them to discuss the problem.

Next month, the health district is planning a forum to search for ways to stop smoking among students. Students, educators, lawmakers and police will be invited to the Nov. 6 meeting.

Health officer Kim Thorburn said she wants to help schools find ways to successfully ban smoking without losing students.

“We know tobacco addiction begins with young people, so we really need to target our efforts,” Thorburn said.

She added, however, “We don’t want to do programs that drive them further away, so I worry if we take a fully enforcement approach, that we drive those kids away.”

That’s going to be tough, especially with a new state law that bans smoking even from alternative school campuses, the principals said.

Since the law went into effect in July, many of the 40 students in Deer Park’s alternative program have begun leaving campus for lunch - and a cigarette, Blair said.

“It’s pretty tough on them,” he said. “They’re pretty addicted to it. I am concerned about dropouts.”

Stookey said he’s dealt with 31 smokers since school started this year. “They’re addicted and there’s not much I can do,” he said. “There’s not enough of me to go around.”

Central Valley administrators are trying to tackle the problem by closing their campus during lunch.

Kids who are caught smoking must attend a four-session program - with their parents - that provides information about the health risks of smoking, said Laurie Sheffler, a Central Valley administrator.

It’s a mistake to assume most of the smokers are troubled kids, Sheffler said. Many are smart, otherwise well-behaved students who smoke to relieve stress.

In the West Valley district, the problem has simply moved from school grounds into the neighborhood, said Superintendent David Smith.

“We did have a smoking area on our campus, and we changed that last year,” said Smith. Now, students walk across the street.

“When you have 15 to 20 students standing in someone’s yard smoking, you have a difficult situation,” Smith said.

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