As the Oct. 17 date for marijuana legalization quickly approaches, a not-for-profit society has released report cards rating Alberta school districts' policies on dealing with tobacco and cannabis use, and Rocky View Schools (RVS) received a final C grade. The report was compiled by Action on Health and Smoking (ASH), a registered Canadian charity that aims to reduce and prevent tobacco use in Alberta and beyond. Each school board was reviewed based on their tobacco and cannabis policies including if the schools provide a smoke-free environment, if the school enforces the policies, provides education and cessation programs, and parameters around youth possession. While RVS received an A for items such as prohibiting the use of any tobacco products or smoking materials in all school buildings, facilities and at events, the board received an F for education and cessation programming. Les Hagen, executive director of ASH, admitted there is a certain amount of subjectivity to the grading process, but overall the report cards were based on best practices for school board policies. "We've done our best to be fair and consistent and accurate in the report cards," Hagen said. The boards' policies were graded by an ASH staff member who is also an educator. The grades were then validated by Hagen. "We found a couple of things," Hagen said. "School boards that already had strong school health programs were more likely to have better policies. He added that school boards based on faith were also more likely to have stricter policies. There were no differences between urban versus rural schools in terms of policies. Hagen, a father of a 15-year-old in high school, said implementing stricter policies in school is "near and dear" to his heart and focusing on schools is an important part of prevention. "That's where the kids are. If we're going to prevent tobacco use and substance abuse it has to start in the schools," Hagen said. The organization evaluated just shy of 50 school districts across Alberta, eight of which received an A on the report cards. Among the districts scoring at the top of the class included Calgary Catholic Schools, which Cochrane's Holy Spirit School is under. RVS superintendent, Greg Luterbach, responded that the report cards doled out by ASH didn't consider items that RVS incorporates in its programming rather than its policies. "Overall, ASH’s report card on school boards is only based on a review of written policy/procedures and does not take into consideration that many of the items being evaluated would never be outlined and wrapped up in policy or procedure," Luterbach said. Those items, Luterbach said, include education opportunities about tobacco use and cessation for students, which are rolled out through programming such as RVS' Social Emotional Learning Initiative.
