AUBURN - The Auburn school board endorsed a resolution Tuesday night to extinguish tobacco ads in magazines carried in school district libraries.

Karen Darling, the coordinator for a youth-led anti-tobacco movement called Reality Check, asked for the school board's support, during a regular meeting, in the group's efforts to change advertising in mainstream magazines.

In 1998, four major tobacco companies (Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company and Santa Fe Tobacco Company) entered into a master settlement agreement to refrain from marketing their products to young people, directly or indirectly. The ban included marketing to youth via newspaper and magazine advertising.

Beyond the direction not to target youth, the agreement did not restrict tobacco product advertising in magazines per se. Reality Check holds that sending magazines containing such ads to schools constitutes a way of marketing tobacco products to young people.

Currently, Time, Inc., which publishes Time, Sports Illustrated and People, publishes versions of its magazines without tobacco advertising. School Superintendent John Plume told the board Auburn schools currently carry a number of other magazines that retain such ads. These include Outdoor Life, Field and Stream, Popular Science, Ebony and Essence magazines.

The board's endorsement presses for the expansion of a selective binding agreement between the aforementioned tobacco companies and the National Association of Attorneys General, to encourage versions of the latter magazines, sans tobacco ads, that school settings may carry.

In other news:

* Members resolved to maintain the polling locations for the annual budget vote and school board elections, at least for now.

This spring, Auburn school district residents will be able to vote in customary polling spots: Casey Park, Owasco, and Seward Elementary schools, East and West Middle schools. Voters will be asked this year, though, to complete an exit survey to help the district determine how to approach future referendums.

Presenting an overview of annual and other referendums between 2001-2006, Plume compared costs, staffing and voter turnout when the district used one versus five polling venues.

The pros of using one location: lower costs, ease of organization, staffing, supervision and tallying, seemed to outweigh the cons: a change in routine, further travel for some voters and parking issues.

Member Frederick Cornelius noted that what the district might save in expense by restricting polls to one locale, it could sacrifice in voter turnout.

“With a run-of-the-mill vote, turnout might be lower,” he said.

William Andre indicated that taxpayers who no longer have children in the district may even look forward to accessing their community schools to vote.

The board is required to notify the public of voting locations by Feb. 15.

Staff writer Olivia Goldberg can be reached at 253-5311, ext. 235, or at olivia.goldberg@lee.net