Board Ponders Punishment for Smokers

* A proposal will be reworked and presented to the School Committee later this month.

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EAST PROVIDENCE – A proposal to punish students caught smoking on school grounds has been sent back to the drawing board.

The School Committee tabled the draft policy last night after one member said she didn’t think it was tough enough, while the chairman said it was discriminatory.

Chairman Antone Gouveia said the policy was unacceptable because it specified different penalties for students at the high school and middle schools, and didn’t penalize parents and outside groups that sometimes use school facilities.

Gouveia said if the proposal had been adopted, the School Department would have been open to lawsuits.

“I think the policy is flawed. The policy speaks of informing nonschool groups that they are not to smoke on school grounds, but there are no consequences if they do,” he said.

Schools Supt. Manuel Vinhateiro acknowledged that the draft did not assign penalties for parents or other adults using the schools. He will present another proposal at a special meeting of the School Committee at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 23, at the Edward R. Martin Middle School, when there will also be a public hearing on Vinhateiro’s budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins Nov. 1.

Committee member Mildred Morris wants a stricter smoking policy. She said students found smoking should be ordered to do community service or Saturday detention.

Robert Silva, the attorney for the School Committee, said the schools cannot use community service as punishment.

Gouveia said suspension might not always be the best punishment, because students who violate the smoking ban are the same students who would welcome anything that would keep them from having to go to class.

The policy would have established different penalties for elementary, middle and high school students: the high school students would be reprimanded and made to serve three nights of detention for the first offense; would receive a three-day suspension or enrollment in a four-night smoking cessation class for the second offense; and would receive a five-day suspension or enrollment in a smoking-cessation program for the third offense.

The policy for elementary and middle school children would have left the penalties up to the discretion of the school administrator for the first offense, and required a two days’ detention and information on tobacco-use prevention for the second offense.

In other action, the School Committee awarded a contract to Connect-Ed and its parent company, Notification Technologies Inc., of California, to set up a system that will allow school administrators to send phone, fax and e-mail messages to as many as 96,000 recipients within 40 minutes.

Alerting parents to unexpected school closings would be one reason to send the notification. School attendance officer Robert Rodericks said the system will allow schools to send customized messages to any part of the school community, including parents of students who fail to show up at school.

Rodericks said the system could be used to remind parents of concerts and parent-teacher meetings. The Providence School Department, he said, uses the system and has seen a huge increase in attendance at public meetings as a result.

The cost — a little more than $24,000 for the year, based on a one-time charge, plus a fee of $3.60 per student — would be paid for through federal funds, according to Vinhateiro.

Also last night, school officials urged residents to attend the Aug. 23 budget meeting and another on Aug. 30 at the Waddington School.