Schools going tobacco free

State law requires bans by Friday

All of North Carolina's public schools will be tobacco-free by the end of this week, the culmination of a six-year effort by health advocates in the most tobacco-friendly of states.

Each of the state's 115 school systems will have a policy banning smoking and all other tobacco use -- by anyone, at any time, anywhere on campus or at off-campus school events such as field trips and football games.

Most school districts adopted the policy in the last few years. The final holdouts did so this month to comply with state law requiring action by Friday, making North Carolina one of only a handful of states where all public schools will be tobacco-free.

"North Carolina, being a tobacco state, is a beacon on this subject," said Joel Spivak of the Washington-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Advocates hope the bans will result in fewer students taking up smoking and in a healthier working environment for school employees.

In some cases, students organized anti-tobacco clubs and lobbied the local school board. Statewide television ads, funded by the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund, raised the profile of the campaign.

The greatest challenges, organizers said, came in rural counties where tobacco is a dominant crop.

"There was resistance based on the historic and economic connections to tobacco. We had to overcome that," said Vandana Shah, executive director of the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund, which receives part of North Carolina's share of the 1998 national tobacco settlement.

The N.C. Association of Educators, the state's largest group of teachers and other school employees, supported the bans.

About 85 school systems had adopted tobacco-free policies by July 2007 when Gov. Mike Easley signed a law requiring the rest to do so by Aug. 1 of this year.

Among the last school systems to put bans into effect have been those in Lincoln County and Mooresville, though each already had a policy restricting tobacco use.

Larry Wilson, vice chair of the Mooresville school board, said he's concerned about how well officials will be able to enforce the ban at events such as football games.

"I've been to other schools where they make an announcement -- 'We're tobacco-free' --and then you have someone smoking in front of you," Wilson said. "That sends a bad message to the kids."

Some state lawmakers have the same worries. Rep. Cary Allred, an Alamance County Republican, filed legislation this year that would have allowed schools to continue setting their own policies, but the legislation never made it out of committee.

The Alamance-Burlington School System was among the last to comply, and Allred said he heard complaints from constituents. "A lot of people in my community felt like it went too far," he said.

The N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund provides signs at no cost to school systems and offers training for school officials. They say they're working on other ways to implement the bans.

Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue, chairwoman of the trust fund and a frequent public face for its tobacco-free schools program, called the state's acceptance of tobacco regulation historic. And, she said, further regulations could follow.