Smoking Clouds Bingo’s Future at School : Education: District officials say they never would have allowed the fund-raising project at Lakewood High School if they had known about a room for smokers.

A pall of smoke has descended on Lakewood High School’s bingo game, threatening to shut it down.

The biggest threat to what has become a money machine for the school is a district regulation that prohibits smoking in school buildings.

District officials said they were not aware that there would be a smoking room during the weekly bingo games at Lakewood High School. Had they known, they would have never approved the use of school facilities for bingo, they said.

Lakewood is the only high school in the Long Beach Unified School District that began operating bingo games earlier this fall.

Booster Club leaders, who organized the games to raise funds for extracurricular activities, told the school board that the room is thoroughly cleaned after the games, and there is no trace of smoke the next day. They also offered to buy more equipment that will clear the air during the games. Anything, but don’t kill the smoking, they asked.

“If the smokers cannot smoke, they won’t play,” said Paul Williams, a Millikan High School booster.

At Lakewood High, at least 80% of the players are smokers, said James Wickman, the school’s activities director.

A church and a temple in Alhambra face a similar dilemma. St. Therese Church and Temple Beth Torah have both lost a large number of their bingo clientele after the city’s smoking ban went into effect this summer.

To help the church and temple, the Alhambra City Council voted to introduce an ordinance that would exempt bingo nights sponsored by religious or charitable groups from the smoking ban, as long as the games are not in city-owned buildings. Under the proposed ordinance, bingo sponsors must install smoke reducers in the ceiling, provide smoke-filtering ashtrays and reserve at least 25% of the seats for nonsmokers if there are more than 40 players.

On Monday, the Long Beach school board gave the Lakewood High Booster Club until February to work with district officials on finding a solution. The options for the Lakewood school include asking district officials for either a waiver or a change in regulations, said Ted Buckley, the school district’s attorney. The school board could also order Lakewood High School to comply with the regulation.

While in violation of the school district’s regulation banning smoking, the Booster Club is in compliance with the city of Lakewood’s smoking ordinance, according to city and school officials. The Lakewood ordinance bans smoking in city-owned buildings, but it allows owners and operators of private facilities and public buildings to determine whether smoking will be allowed throughout the facility, in designated areas only or not at all, said Don Waldie, Lakewood’s public information officer.

The smoking issue is seen by some club members as the biggest threat yet to the profitable games that have attracted opposition from some parents on moral and other grounds. “That would be the way to kill it, if they wanted to,” Williams said Wednesday. “Then the board wouldn’t have to get involved in the morality issue.”

Indeed, whether booster clubs at the other four high schools in the district should continue planning for their own bingo games was left up in the air earlier last week.

During the three-hour discussion on the subject Monday, school board members avoided giving an indication of which way they are leaning on the issue. Instead, they agreed to wait until February to receive more comment from the public before making a decision. In earlier interviews, most board members expressed concern about having bingo in schools, but none said they would oppose it.

Booster clubs at the five high schools in the district want to run bingo games to pay for extracurricular activities such as sports teams and bands. At Lakewood High School, the games have generated about $2,900 in profits each week, according to Booster Club members.

Opponents argue that schools are not appropriate places for bingo games. They also point out that the same administrative regulation that forbids smoking on school premises also forbids gambling.

District officials concede that Lakewood is in violation of the smoking regulation, but they say that bingo does not fall under the gambling prohibition.

Edward M. Eveland, the district’s assistant superintendent for secondary schools, said the high school is not violating district regulations because “the interpretation was that bingo is not gambling.”

Buckley, the school district’s attorney, said, “It’s not a legal issue so much as a policy issue.” And the school board has no policy on the matter.

To opponents, however, bingo is gambling.

“They’re violating their own regulation,” said Maggie Hackett, who organized the newly formed Parents Against Lotteries in Schools, or PALS.

Those who spoke against bingo Monday night included members of the local Mormon community, Councilman Ray Grabinski and the presidents of the Long Beach Area Citizens Involved, which has about 800 members, and the Long Beach Federation of Teachers, which represents about 50 teachers. Hackett, who is spearheading the opposition, is president of the Polytechnic High School PTA.

Community activist Bob Roxby told the board, “If we don’t teach (children) ethical standards, then everything is for sale.”

Bingo supporters argued that schools already profit from another form of gambling, the state lottery. They also noted that students are not involved because the games are run by parents, and many objected to complaints that bingo is immoral and that students will be adversely affected by having the games on their campuses.

“These are our children,” Williams told the school board. “And suddenly we are corrupting our own children? I’m sorry, but I can’t buy that.”

Board members told parents who want to suggest fund-raising alternatives to bingo to contact Ron Bennett, the district’s assistant business manager.

BACKGROUND Bingo games subsidize sports and other activities in schools throughout Southern California, including Los Angeles and Orange counties. In the Long Beach School District, the Lakewood High School began operating a bingo game early this fall. Leaders of booster clubs at four other district high schools also plan to operate games.