Gum was tolerated, beepers were a no-no (cell phones really hadn’t hit yet).
Smoking penalties got much worse as I went through school. My uncle who graduated from the same high school I did in 1980, 15 years before me, said they used to smoke WITH the teachers back then!
My old man tells me stories about his youth. He loves to tell the story about him and his buddy driving around Ft. Lee, NJ in his ‘76 Duster with a 6-pack of beers and getting pulled over. The cop took the beers and went back to the squad car and drank them with his partner. Dad was let go with a warning. Of course, open container laws and DUI laws were nonexistent or very laxed.
I’ve heard similar stories to yours about the teachers smoking with the students, but back then tobacco didn’t have the stigma that it does now.