Fallbrook Schools Ban Tobacco Use

The Fallbrook Union Elementary School District on Monday became the second school district in the county to adopt a tobacco-free policy, prohibiting the use of all tobacco products on school property at all times.

The policy, which will also apply to all school district vehicles, is one of the most stringent in the county and will go into effect one year from now, said Mike Choate, assistant superintendent at Fallbrook Union Elementary.

The new policy is more stringent than one in the Fallbrook Union High School District, which last year prohibited tobacco use in all but one small room in a building inaccessible to students.

The Lemon Grove School District adopted a policy in 1989 that allowed individual schools to designate smoking areas until June 20, 1992, at which time all areas of the school district will become tobacco-free, said Joseph Farley, the district’s assistant superintendent of instruction and personnel.

“If we are going to go in front of our classrooms and say that smoking is bad for you, and that you should never start, then this is a good image to present,” Choate said of the move toward a tougher smoking policy.

“I would expect that people who are smokers will either quit, and use this policy as an incentive to do that, or they are going to go off campus during their breaks and lunches,” Choate said.

Choate estimated that less than 10% of the district’s more than 500 employees are smokers.

Fallbrook Union Elementary is among the first of what will be a string of school districts to adopt smoke-free policies as they come into compliance with provisions of Tobacco Tax Initiative, which was approved by California voters in 1988, said Cecil Munsey, coordinator of Tobacco Use Prevention Education for the San Diego County Office of Education.

The initiative provided schools with $4.31 per child each year for tobacco-use prevention education, amounting to $24,304 for the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District and $1.7 million for the schools in San Diego County this year, Munsey said.

Schools accepting the money under the initiative are required to be tobacco-free by 1996, and districts must have policies to enforce the ban, Munsey said.