5-YEAR-OLDS TAUGHT DANGERS OF DRUGS

West End Schools Try To Ward Off Drug Dealers, Street People

Each year, teachers at Lord Roberts School Annex in Vancouver's West End
use a street-hazard kit to show students -- some as young as five -- what
condoms, needles and drug packages look like and what to do if they find
them at school.

Vice-principal Ian Cannon would prefer to banish such harsh lessons from
the elementary-school curriculum.

Yet due to illegal activity in nearby Nelson Park, they've become a
necessity to protect his 167 kindergarten to Grade 4 students.

Cannon said he's very concerned about "people using and selling drugs
within metres of my schoolyard fence, people using my grounds to sleep in
the evenings."

But Cannon, who scours the grounds for dangerous refuse each morning,
added: "I don't want people to think it's a complete war zone. I truly feel
the schoolyard during the day is a safe place for children."

The students and yard, he stresses, are supervised by vigilant staff, and
no child has been hurt.

A citizen's group, West End Citizen's Action Network, is launching a street
patrol to help keep it that way.

"Having to teach a five-year-old about not picking up a syringe, not
picking up a dirty condom -- kids having to step over people passed out
drunk and stoned -- it's fundamentally wrong," said WECAN chairwoman Sheryl
Williamson-Harms, whose daughter was a student at the school three years ago.

WECAN is hoping 100 people will sign up. They'll be trained by police and
spend an hour a week circling three West End schools before and after
class. Volunteers will be dispatched in groups and have cellphones to call
police.

Sign-up sheets will be posted this week at neighbourhood centres including
Roberts Annex, Lord Roberts, the West End Community Centre,

Gordon Neighbourhood House and the Davie and Granville community policing
offices.

Parents picking up children at Roberts Annex yesterday were relieved to
hear of the extra security.

"That's an excellent idea," said Behrooz Mostofi, whose daughter Shadi is
in Grade 3.

"I've seen street people, junkies around here, and I was worried they might
leave something in the playground, like needles."

Rosa Tarasoff, leading her son Nick home from his Grade 1 class, said:
"There are too many people around with drugs and stuff that it's not safe
for kids."

Vancouver-Burrard MLA Lorne Mayencourt said the program is a crucial step
in reducing crime.

"We need community vigilance. We need to be out on the streets."

Residents sent Mayencourt a petition with 4,000 signatures calling for
measures to clean up the area. He's called for a "bubble zone" around the
school with zero tolerance for criminal activity, higher fines and street
patrols.

Added Cannon: "I'm hoping it's going to make parents and people living in
the West End take more responsibility for what's happening."