[Sunshine Sister]

I hope the courts come down hard on the school board. They have no right intruding on legal behavior off the school ground.

[excalibur1701]

Good for the school. She knew the rules going into this. Is she can't follow rules, then she should be banned.

[MegaSilver]

Not that I want kids (or anyone) smoking cigarettes, but... COME ON!!! What is this, a police state?

It's one thing to bar them from athletics and/or leadership positions for smoking or binge drinking off campus. But there's no reason for barring them from the prom for that...

[Freedom2specul8]

Just D A N G!

The school board should be kicked out...

[headsonpikes]

Now, hold on.

Cigarette smoking is legal for 18+, but this woman is being punished?

The Principal must be one of those ZeroTolerance lab rays they churn out of teacher's colleges these days.

Ick.

[So Cal Rocket]

OK, this is fair, so long as any teacher, administrator, janitor, school board member or staff member who smokes is summarily fired.

[Skooz]

In Jr. High School, my football coach cut our nose tackle because he saw him smoking somewhere off campus.

I guess that didn't merit a blithering newspaper article in 1973.

[JimRed]

We're coming, we're coming, our brave little band

on the right side of temperance we do take our stand

we don't use tobacco because we do think

that the people who use it are likely to drink!

(from "Away with rum, by gum", Mitchell Trio, 1960's)

[kingu]

Hmm.. I wonder what other moral based rules might be created and enforced.. Let's see.. Oh! How about banning people from proms for engaging in premarital sex? Or, perhaps, how about banning people from the proms for shooting a gun?

What a student does off campus that is legal is none of the school's business. Even if the student in question is committing a crime, it is up to the justice system to arrest and try the person, as well as applying the punishments if found guilty.

Oh, but that's right, the school is in charge of the student from the moment they leave the house until they return to the house in the evening... Pure stupidity. I hope this gal exercises her opinion at the ballot box; or even better, runs for the school board herself.

[jwalsh07]

Stupidity, either she's a citizen or she isn't.

[Bob J]

Information on this incident seems to be lacking. Was she at a School event off school grounds?

[BluH2o]

No doubt this school allows their students to pierce whatever part of their anatomy they please ... tattoo's wherever, but hot damn ... you better not be caught smoking.

[Viking2002]

The day that a school board can exercise any sort of dominion over a teen's behavior outside of an academic setting, is the day we come one step closer to a police state. If this girl was seen smoking somewhere other than school grounds, it's up to the parents - not NEA-sponsored overlords - to determine what action will be taken against her.

[MEGoody]

How can they ban someone from prom for participating in a legal activity? Hope she wins her case.

[GSWarrior]

Somehow I doubt if this ban extends to teachers. I may be wrong.

[Agnes Heep]

Every year about this time we get a spate of news articles about some poor high school kids who aren't going to be allowed to participate in the two most important events in their entire lives, to-wit, the prom and graduation, because of some transgression. How much suffering can some kids stand?

[tnlibertarian]

She's been barred from her prom for smoking

Was she in an Irish pub?

[ClintonBeGone]

Not a bad idea. However, the rule shouldn't be enforced unless she had a voucher that would allow her to attend the school that had a policy that wouldn't punish her.

[Temple Drake]

big deal. My son's Catholic high school does the same thing.

[NJ Freeper]

Smoker's rights ping.