Western Suffolk BOCES - Long Island Regional Support Services Center

The Long Island Regional Student Support Services Center (LIRSSSC) is a Regional Office of the New York State Education Department, serving the school districts and communities of Nassau BOCES, Western Suffolk BOCES and Eastern Suffolk BOCES.

Tobacco-Free Schools (TFS)

The Long Island Regional Student Support Services Center of Western Suffolk BOCES in partnership with New York State’s Department of Health Bureau of Tobacco Use Prevention and Control for its third year, is recruiting and working with up to 95 schools in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties to develop and implement comprehensive tobacco-free policies and procedures.

Why focus on tobacco prevention and intervention through policy and procedures?

Research shows that the use of tobacco products is correlated to an increase in the use of alcohol and other drugs, sexual activity, fighting and lower academic performance, an increase in absenteeism, and a decrease in attention span.
Developing and enforcing a tobacco-free policy is recommended by the Center for Disease Control as the #1 strategy to prevent tobacco use and addiction.
Enforced policies promote and maintain tobacco-free environments.

Tobacco is the gateway risk behavior and school policy is one of the most important and often overlooked aspects of comprehensive tobacco control.

73.5% of High School students report having seen students smoking on school property in the last 30 days. (Youth Tobacco Survey, 2004)
Over 35,000 youth under age 18 in New York State become new daily smokers each year (Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, 2005)

Contact Information:

Suffolk County Schools

Karyn Kirschbaum

631/595-6816

kkirschb@wsboces.org

Nassau County Schools

Gail Volk

631/595-6847

gvolk@wsboces.org

Westchester County Schools

Kelly Brown

631/595-6839

kbrown@wsboces.org

The following schools made a commitment to the project:

Suffolk County Schools	Nassau County Schools	Westchester County Schools
*Amityville School District	Alverta B. Gray Schultz Middle School	*Carol and Frank Biondi Education Center at Leakes and Watts
*Babylon Jr. Sr. High	Baldwin High School	Lakeland Alternative H.S.
Beach Street Middle School (West Islip)	*Freeport School District	Lakeland Copper-Beech M.S.
*Cold Spring Harbor High School	*Glen Cove School District	Walter Panas H.S
*Commack School District	Hempstead High School
*Eastport Jr. Sr. High School	*Island Trees School District
*Little Flower School District	Jericho High School
*Mattituck Jr. Sr. High School	*Levittown School District
*Patchogue Medford School District	*Locust Valley School District
*Sachem School District	*Manhasset Jr. Sr. High School
Sayville High School	*Massapequa School District
Smithtown High School East	Nassau BOCES Center for Community Adjustment
Smithtown High School West	Oceanside High School
*Southampton School District	Seaford High School
*St John the Baptist High School	Valley Stream South High School
Walt Whitman High School - South Huntington	Woodward Children’s Center
*West Babylon School District
Western Suffolk BOCES - James E. Allen Alternative High School
*William Floyd School District