West Sonoma County Union High School District has won a $760,438 grant from the California Department of Justice’s Tobacco Grant Program, a program funded by the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tax Act of 2016 (Proposition 56). Approved by voters in 2016, Proposition 56 increased taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products by $2 starting in April 2017. The funds generated by this tax go to support tobacco education and suppression programs, particularly those aimed at young smokers.
WSCUHSD was one of 65 Tobacco Grant Program recipients statewide.
“We are very excited about this grant,” said WSCUHSD superintendent Toni Beal. “This funding will allow our district the opportunity to increase the education, intervention, and prevention of tobacco use – and especially vaping – among our students.”
Police officer on campus
The district, which applied for the grant in cooperation with the Sebastopol Police Department and the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department, will use the money to hire a full-time school resource officer (i.e., a police officer) to conduct tobacco and drug enforcement operations and do drug education at the district’s four campuses: Analy High School and Laguna High School in Sebastopol, and the El Molino High School and West County Charter Middle School in Forestville.
Click HERE to read the full article, written by Laura Hagar Rush.
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