Rockcastle County school board nixes ban on smoking at schools

While more than 30 Kentucky communities have banned smoking in enclosed public places, and about as many school districts have imposed a total ban, many districts remain resistant to the idea. This month the Rockcastle County Board of Education turned down a smoking ban that would have allowed designated smoking areas at athletic events but no smoke breaks for employees.

"Four of the five board members expressed opposition to the ban, including Mike Burdette, who said he didn't feel it was right to tell an adult they cannot use a legal product on grounds their taxes pay for," reported  the Mount Vernon Signal. Other board members said they didn't like the fact that the proposal from the administration did not include smoke breaks since employees "can't leave school during the day except for designated reasons."

The Signal reported that Superintendent Larry Hammond "put forth the argument that research has shown that second- and even third-hand smoke can be harmful to students," but only Board Chairman Martin Vanzant supported the proposal. To a member who suggested that the ban be delayed for two or three years, he said that would be "postponing the inevitable." (Read more)

In Kentucky, "All 174 school systems have restrictions of some sort on the use of tobacco products on their campuses, and any that allow staff smoking have designated areas," Brad Hughes of the Kentucky School Boards Association told Kentucky health News. "About 30 have a total ban."

Some employers stop hiring smokers in effort to 'walk the walk'

As smoking bans become more common nationwide, employers are taking it one step further and refusing to hire people who smoke. Primarily in hospitals, employers "won't hire applicants whose urine tests positive for nicotine use, whether cigarettes, smokeless tobacco or even patches," reports Wendy Koch of USA Today.

"We have to walk the walk if we talk the talk," said David Fotsch of Idaho's Central District Health Department, whose board agreed to stop hiring smokers last month.

"We're trying to promote a complete culture of wellness," said Mary Marshall of the Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pa., which likewise stopped hiring smokers. "We're not denying smokers their right to tobacco products. We're just choosing not to hire them."

As for how many U.S. businesses are opting not to hire smokers, there is no data but "the trend appears strongest with hospitals," Koch reports.

Critics say the practice is the equivalent of employment discrimination. "It's a very dangerous precedent," said Michael Siegel, a professor at Boston University's School of Public Health.

"What's next? Are you not going to hire overly-caffeinated people," said Nate Shelman, Boise's KBOI radio talk show host. "I'm tired of people seeing smokers as an easy piñata."

But federal laws do not view the move as discrimination because smokers are not recognized as a protected class. Still, 29 states, including Kentucky, as well as the District of Columbia, have passed smoker-protection laws.

Paul Billings of the American Lung Association said he is not convinced that refusing to hire people who smoke will help them quit — smoking cessation programs probably are more effective, he thinks — but the ALA nevertheless opts not to hire them. "We're non-smoking exemplars," he said. (Read more)