THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 10, 1995 TAG: 9510100253
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
If you try to light a cigarette at a school football game, someone in the stands next to you might tell you in no uncertain terms to snuff it out.
At least that's what the School Board is counting on.
Since September, the school system has been testing a voluntary ban on smoking in the stands at sports events. And on Monday night, the School Board, satisfied that self-policing can work, made the policy official.
``It's accomplishing exactly what my intent was,'' board member Thomas Bray said. ``The people in the stands are enforcing it themselves.''
Other groups, such as Little League teams, who use the schools' sports facilities will be asked to comply with the policy as well.
Bray had first asked school officials to consider banning smoking at all outdoor events.
But at the least he wanted it eliminated in the stands.
His call for smoking restrictions preceded President Clinton's announcement over the summer of plans to combat smoking among teenagers.
It was also in line with increasing efforts to limit public areas where smoking is permitted.
A Chesapeake survey of six other Hampton Roads school districts found that only Newport News prohibits smoking at outdoor events. Norfolk, Hampton, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach do not, because of concerns over enforcement and public relations.
The Chesapeake school system's outdoor facilities are widely used by community groups as well as school teams.
Bray, who has been a Little League coach and is former chairman of the Department of Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, doubts smoking restrictions will drive people away.
The board approved the smoking restriction as part of an overall review of its policy manual.
It also considered a policy that would allow a small number of students to bring mace or pepper gas onto campus on a limited basis.
Currently, students are prohibited from possessing such substances.
A consulting firm reviewing the division's policy manual suggested a less restrictive policy that would allow students to store mace or pepper gas in the school office or leave it with a bus driver.
But a school administration committee rejected this idea because it would involve monitoring by school employees.
The committee suggested that students who drive to work or another nighttime activity after school be allowed to keep mace or pepper gas in their cars on campus.
Board member James M. Reeves supported the outright ban.
``Either we are going to be clear on weapons or we're not,'' he said. ``I think being opposed to mace period is the way to go.''
The majority of the board, however, disagreed.
They favored the administration committee's plan, but asked that it be reworded to emphasize that students who bring mace or pepper gas in their cars must leave it there. by CNB