The Anchorage School Board is aiming to keep students from getting addicted to tobacco and nicotine with a slate of policy updates.
Students are already prohibited from using tobacco products on school property — including vapes and e-cigarettes — both by law and Anchorage School District policies. A student caught with tobacco or nicotine products can face suspension, among other punishments.
If three changes recommended by the board’s Governance Committee on Sept. 26 are adopted by the full school board, students would no longer face immediate punishment for being caught with tobacco, vapes or nicotine products. Instead, the policy updates would prioritize intervention and education, and mandate that students at every grade level be taught about the dangers of tobacco, alcohol and drug addiction.
Carl Jacobs chairs the committee and co-sponsored the policy changes.
“The goal, from my perspective, is to have less usage and engagement with those things on ASD campuses, which in turn, it can and will improve student outcomes and it improves students’ physical and mental health,” Jacobs said.
The terminology updates are intended to dispel misinformation that vaping does not pose a significant health risk and to keep kids from getting addicted in the first place, Jacobs said. Jacobs worked with committee member Dora Wilson and the American Lung Association on the language.
Punishing students by suspending them from school after they’ve been caught can be damaging to their academic progress and isn’t proven to help them quit using nicotine, Wilson said.
“Really we’re trying to focus on educating, and choosing, having our kids choose to change their behavior, rather than putting them further behind academically,” Wilson said.
While current policies already prohibit students, staff or visitors to schools from using tobacco or nicotine-delivery products on school grounds, the policy does not prohibit the use of FDA-approved nicotine replacement therapy products or prescriptions designed to help people quit. For example, a teacher would be allowed to wear a nicotine patch without consequences.
If passed in November, the policy would go into effect at the start of next school year.
Tim Rockey is the producer of Alaska News Nightly and covers education for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at trockey@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8487. Read more about Tim here.
