What Is the Smoking Policy at St. Anselm School?

Despite what the sign says, REST representatives have emailed that REST will allow 40 homeless men to smoke at St. Anselm kindergarten through fifth grade Elementary School's gym and playground for two months this summer.

On April 27, 2015, I received an email from Pat Langley, a REST representative, who attached a document containing information about the REST smoking policy. I have quoted it below. The first sentence, which says that there will be no smoking, is contradicted by the second sentence that says that there "will be supervised smoking breaks." The paragraph ends by stating that there will be no smoking from 10 pm to 6am. Since the men arrive at 6 pm, this indicates that smoking will occur from 6 pm to 10 pm.

The entire paragraph about smoking is quoted immediately below:

REST Smoking Policy

There will be no smoking on the St. Anselm facility.  There will be supervised smoking   breaks.  We are also investigating the purchase of personal air-filters and hosting a class for those who want to stop smoking.  There will be no smoking from 10pm until the men  leave in the morning, approximately 6am.

In a May 15 Marin IJ article, Suzanne Walker, a Deputy Director at St. Vincent de Paul, confirmed that smoking will be allowed. She was quoted in the article as saying, “We also invested in personal smoke filters that we’re going to ask all of the smokers to use so there won’t be any exhalation of cigarette smoke.” This confirms that smoking will be an activity at the shelter.


According to Change Labs,  page 17, smoking in anyway, shape or form is illegal on a school yard or in a school. There are fines for each infraction of smoking and leaving tobacco refuse on the ground.

I spoke to a vice principal at St. Anselm School who was not informed about the REST smoking policy quoted above. This indicates to me that the parents and administration at the school are unaware of REST's policy to allow smoking breaks.