After September 1, 1990, smoking or use of tobacco in the buildings of Loudoun County Public Schools by anyone at anytime will be prohibited.The proposed policy is:
Use of tobacco products by adults coaching and/or supervising extracurricular activities on or off school property is prohibited.
All persons attending school events and/or extra-curricular activities are prohibited from smoking or using smokeless tobacco products on school property.
Use of tobacco products by any person at anytime on any Loudoun County Public Schools’ property, will be prohibited except by employees of Loudoun County Public Schools in designated smoking areas, which will be out of sight and inaccessible to the general public and students.
I abstained from the vote in committee because I wasn't ready to decide at the time. Obviously it would be better for people's health not to use tobacco products. It would save taxpayers money with the savings realized in the LCPS insurance program. At the same time, there's a Libertarian in me that doesn't think it's appropriate for an employer, particularly a government entity, to attempt to mold its employees in ways that don't have anything to do with work.The use of tobacco products on school property, including all schools and school athletic facilities, parking lots and grounds, support facilities and vehicles including school buses, is prohibited.
I could go into all the pros and cons, but I'm sure you can figure them out. After long and careful consideration I have decided to vote yes to this policy change. Not because I want to push LCPS employees not to smoke, but because this is a student-focused organization. Even in buildings and areas that aren't frequented by students such as the LCPS Administration building, transportation facility and warehouse, LCPS is student-focused. It is illegal for LCPS students to use tobacco products at any time in any place, by law and policy. As a student-focused organization, I think it's appropriate for us to set a single standard for everyone.
Although I'm not personally invested in this issue I do see it as a harbinger of things to come. I'm not willing to decree that smoking is evidence of moral depravity because I don't want someone to outlaw eating glazed donuts on school property because it encourages child obesity. (i.e. the glass house and stones thing.)
ReplyDeleteI support a policy that takes extra care to make sure second hand smoke is not polluting the air near children.
However, I think it goes too far to punish an employee who takes a smoking break in their car which happens to be parked on school property. Just because a student sees an employee smoke is not a problem since we teach that self medication (even in a personally harmful way) is a priviledge of adulthood, right?
How are you going to enforce this against parents? And how do you define tobacco "use". The more I think about this the more concerned I become. A parent with a dip of snuff is prohibited from coming to a football game? This seems overly broad. Am I reading too much into this?
ReplyDeleteThis is nanny stating in the Public School arena. Is there nothing else these people have to do, or is social engineering now part of the curiculum of the Loudoun County Public Schools?
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