To have complained that an ash tray has been put at the gates of my ds's pre-school?

[Bambiraptor]

My son's pre-school has bizarrely put a large ash tray bin at it's entrance. This has meant that some inappropriate parents now stand at the entrance smoking, and I have to get past them with my 2 dc's. It looks horrible and smells.

I have complained lightly about it but have been told that it has been put there to stop the litter of cigarette ends at the entrance.

I think it is mad. They should just put a big 'no smoking' sign up instead, and ask the smoking parents to wait until they get home.

It is not a pub it is a pre-school FGS.

Anyone agree with me?

Me! This is outrageous - it sets a terrible example, and doesn't it contravene the new laws about smoking in public places.

EEWWWWW
gross

I can't understand why people think it is okay to smoke where children are. We have to cross the roay where I don't want to at times as there are 3 mums with their kids having a smoke. It is awful. Last month I saw someone actually smoking in the school playground.

Blimey! I smoke after dropping ds off but always wait until I'm half way home, nowhere near school or mums with buggies walking back.

Had visions of a large glass ash tray on a wall at the gate!
That is gross. They are probably so sick of seeing dog ends on the floor and see this as a message to parents. (am a non smoker)

Aparantly the ash tray can't go outside the school grounds because that is council property.
Why there has to be an ash tray at all is beyond me.

I do agree with you in principal but the pavement outside the school is a public place and there is always going to be ignorant people who think it is ok and these people will ignore a no smoking sign.

BUT I do think putting an ashtray their is just encouraging these poeple to group there and smoke they are condoning it but in a way it is the lesser of 2 evils it is better than having the school entrance strewn with discarded fag ends.

So no YANBU but I can also see why they did it.

aaah it is not on the pavement it is IN the grounds then eeewwww there is noooo need for that.

I would complain too so I don't think YABU. That's horrible.

I can see why they did it but I don't think it is a good solution at all. Children are running around an could get burnt.

If it was up to me I would send a letter to all the parents asking them politely to not smoke within a certain zone of the building and grounds. If they ignored it I would start coming out in person to ask them not to do it.

My preschoolers would pick up and chew on the dogends from the parents who smoked there anyway and think it's okay to drop their rubbish anywhere. Lesser of possible evils, and all that.

Personally I can imagine anything worse than smoking in the street but I guess the pre-group are trying to gently encourage the parents not to smoke onsite.

Theres a group of mums who hang about outside our school smoking it always makes me go "urgh" (same as when you see someone smoking and pushing a pushchair) but in the scheme of things its really not worth getting upset about.

I do think it's a "lesser of two evils" thing. Outside the school gates is not private property, so the school has no right to tell parents not to smoke there, and if parents are going to stand there and smoke then it's better to have an ashtray than to have the dogends all over the place. I am at the number of parents who think it's an appropriate place to smoke, but that's not really the school's fault.

The pre-school DS attended put "please do not park in the school car park" on EVERY newsletter but there were ALWAYS parents who thought this did not apply to them...sometimes parking so you couldnt get a puschair out of the gates...they even tried naming and shaming but some people think rules just apply to other people dont they. Of course they are the same people who are suprised when their children dont do what they tell them to

Whats wrong with a ciggie bin outside the gates, no ciggie ends in the street, and as for walking children past smokers? I would have though exhaust fumes are worse.

surely the school put it there to encourage parents to put their fags out before going into the school proper rather than to offer parents a nice little spot to have a chat and a smoke. they probably did it to avoid having dog ends littering the ground.

jumpingbeans, I think what's wrong with it is that it should be completely unnecessary. The smokers don't need to have a cigarette on the way to school. They could easily have one before they left or when they got back.

It is just pandering to bad behaviour IMO.