School Policy on Smoking

Your Sept. 19 editorial, “Smoke Gets in Their Eyes,” asks what messages is sent to children if they see a smoking teacher or office worker standing outside the school fence to smoke. Perhaps just the message they need: how pathetic it is to be so addicted, just maybe it is best not to get hooked, never start smoking!

You worry that children will see firsthand that school rules are easy to get around. Is it impossible that a strong principal, even a smoker, may enforce the rule, requiring smokers to go off the campus, thus reinforcing the message that smoking is indeed beyond the pale?

LOUISE BIANCO

Tarzana