Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Comment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Turner-area parent raises concerns about school health survey listing vaping and tobacco brand names
Summary
At the RSU 52 meeting a parent, Crystal Nicholson Green, urged the board to reconsider a Maine integrated health survey after finding brand-name references to vaping and tobacco products in the high-school question bank, saying listing brands could prompt curiosity among students.
During public comment at the RSU 52 board meeting, Crystal Nicholson Green read from materials she received about the Maine Integrated Health Survey and said that the high-school question bank included named brands of vaping products, cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. Green told trustees the mention of brands such as JUUL and several cigarette brands could inadvertently introduce students to products they had not previously known about and urged the district to remove the survey or revise it to omit product names.
Green said she reviewed the survey's question bank online and felt brand lists, including flavored varieties, could function as advertising or prompt curiosity. She asked the board to reconsider the district mailing that described the survey as posing "little or no risk" to students and to provide data or evidence that the survey poses limited risk.
The board chair reminded the public of the district's public participation rules and policy BEDH on comment length and decorum during remarks.
Ending: The board did not take action on the comment during the meeting; the superintendent had earlier noted policy BEDH and complaint policy KE as the proper avenues for personnel or procedural complaints and indicated the administration would follow the district's routine processes for public participation and any follow-up.
