Schools Get Grants for Anti-Smoking Projects

Four Ventura County school districts were notified Tuesday that they will receive nearly $150,000 in state education grants to create high school programs to keep teen-agers from smoking, state officials said.

Simi Valley, Ventura, Moorpark and Oak Park school districts were among 49 districts statewide that received grants ranging from $10,000 to $300,000 depending on district size, officials said.

The Simi Valley district, the county’s largest, was awarded the biggest grant locally--nearly $75,000, officials said. Ventura received $50,000, Moorpark $14,755 and Oak Park $10,000.

“They’ve done very well,” State Board of Education consultant Rae Kine said of the Ventura County districts, which competed in a field of 97 applicants for $3.7 million.

County school officials said local districts collectively may have been more successful than those from any other county. They attributed that success to thorough planning and detailed grant writing. School leaders met as a group this fall to plot ways to persuade state educators that their schools needed the money.

“I really feel that that played a role in having more strong applications submitted,” said Jean Varden, director of the Healthy Kids Center in the county Superintendent of Schools Office.

Many schools have taken steps in recent years to ban smoking even among adult employees to win state and federal grants for alcohol, drug and tobacco prevention programs.

“Our county has made a real commitment over the past few years to provide drug and tobacco education,” said Becky Wetzel, director of programs and assessment in Simi Valley.

Simi Valley’s grant will be used for classroom instruction, and to help students quit smoking, Wetzel said.

“Hopefully, it will provide teacher time and nurse time for direct instruction on tobacco health risks,” Wetzel said.

The state pays for similar programs in elementary and junior high schools, but recently eliminated funding for high school programs, officials said.

Simi Valley, for example, lost about $60,000, Supt. Mary Beth Wolford said. “This will help us,” she said. The $75,000 grant will be divided among Simi Valley’s three high schools.

In starting to award grants on a competitive basis, officials said they were forcing districts to do a better job of teaching the anti-smoking lesson.

“They really were hoping that this money would show what kinds of (programs) really work,” Varden said.