Tobacco-Free Schools in North Dakota

The policy change vision is that all North Dakota school districts will adopt a policy to prohibit tobacco use on all school property. The anticipated outcomes of tobacco-free school grounds policies are to not only reduce current youth tobacco use, but to help change community norms so children are not witnessing others using tobacco and will not be encouraged to try it themselves.

The tobacco-free school grounds policy initiative started in early 2002. By April 2005, 30 percent of North Dakota school districts had adopted a tobacco-free school grounds policy. Even though the number of school districts with tobacco-free grounds policy was small, it was encouraging that over 75 percent of the student population was protected by tobacco-free school grounds policies. All of the state’s largest school districts had adopted the tobacco-free school grounds policy. We are continuing to work toward protecting all students, staff and visitors from exposure to secondhand smoke at our schools.

Policy Initiation

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death and disability in North Dakota. When this initiative began, youth tobacco use in the state ranked among the highest in the nation. In 2005, the state ranks close to the national median. The 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement provided the impetus and resources to begin the development of a comprehensive approach to preventing and reducing tobacco use in the state. Each local public health agency conducted school and community assessments in order to gather information to develop a local plan for reducing tobacco use. Local policy makers, community members and youth were involved in development of the plan. School assessments provided baseline data on the level of tobacco-free policy implementation. In early 2002, 17 percent of school districts in the state had policies in place to prohibit tobacco use anywhere on school grounds.

Public Health Agency Roles

The North Dakota Department of Health provides training and consultation to local coalitions and school boards as requested. The Department has provided education and training on comprehensive tobacco-free school policy for local coordinators and coalition members, for school administrators, for youth interested in changing school tobacco policy, and at the annual Roughrider Health Promotion Conference designed for school health teams. The Department developed a Model Tobacco-Free School Policy, a White Paper on Comprehensive School Policy and publishes a list of schools with tobacco-free school policies. These resources are available on the state Tobacco Program website at www.ndhealth.gov/tobacco. The Department is currently in the final stages of developing a tobacco-free school tool kit for administrators/school boards to help implement tobacco-free school policies.

Major Partners

Major partners involved in the initiative included local coalitions/coordinators, the Department of Public Instruction and the North Dakota Council of Educational Leaders.

Official Support

Major public officials who support this effort included the state health officer and the state superintendent of public instruction.

Results from the Policy

Since this project began in early 2002, current youth smoking rates among students in grades 9-12 decreased from 35 percent in 2001 to 22 percent in 2005 and current youth smokeless rates have declined from 13 percent in 2001 to 11 percent in 2005. In addition, the percent of students who smoked on school property during the past 30 days decreased from 12 percent in 2001 to six percent in 2005; and the percent of students who used chewing tobacco on school property decreased from seven percent in 2001 to five percent in 2005.

There is strong public support for tobacco-free school grounds. A statewide survey conducted by the public education task force in 2004 found that 97 percent of North Dakota adults ages 18-54 believe there should be no smoking in elementary or high school buildings and 69 percent support extending the ban to include school grounds.

Lessons Learned

Policy efforts need to be locally driven and grassroots support is critical. Linking skeptical school administrators to other administrators who already adopted tobacco-free policies provides opportunities to discuss implementation and enforcement issues and concerns.

Submitted By

Stacy Johnson

Outreach Coordinator

Division of Tobacco Prevention and Control

North Dakota Department of Health

600 E Boulevard Ave., Dept. 301

Bismarck, ND 58505-0200

701.328.3344

701.328.2036 FAX

sajohnso@state.nd.us