Countywide : School Gets Grant to Combat Smoking

The Gateway Community School in Camarillo, a county-run school for students at risk of dropping out, has received a state grant of nearly $75,000 to help reduce cigarette smoking among its 375 students.

The grant, awarded by the Critical Health Initiatives Unit of the state Department of Education, comes from money generated by cigarette taxes. Proposition 99, passed in 1988, added 25 cents a pack tax on cigarettes to finance special school programs, said Patricia Navarro, an analyst with the unit.

The Gateway school will receive the $74,825 over a two-year period to fund its Personal Wellness Project, said Phillip Gore, the school director. The school will hire two part-time instructors who will teach physical fitness and instruct students about the adverse health effects of smoking.

Students who have passed initial stages of the yearlong course will serve as peer counselors for other students, Gore said.

Gateway students, who are in the seventh through 12th grades, are referred to the campus near the Camarillo Airport from traditional schools for a variety of reasons. Some students have attendance or disciplinary problems, others work full time, are pregnant or parents, have served jail time or are recovering from drug dependency.

“There is a relation between cigarette smoking and other high-risk behaviors,” Gore said. “Basically, we just want to promote healthy lifestyles.”

The school offers job training, counseling, child care and an independent course of study that allows students to set their own hours and to work at their own pace. Housed in a series of Quonset huts, the year-round school will be moved in July into a new $2.1-million facility, also near the airport.