MOUNT WASHINGTON TO LOSE DARE, GREAT

Police Changes Mean Drug, Gang Programs Cut

Two programs designed to steer students away from drugs and gangs will be
suspended in public schools in Mount Washington because of a shortage of
police officers.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, known as DARE, and the Gang
Resistance Education and Training program, or GREAT, will be suspended at
the end of the school year. Mayor Frank Sullivan said he doesn't know when
the programs will be offered again.

The Mount Washington police department has 14 officers, including Chief Leo
Oliver. One of the officers is recovering from back surgery, and another
spends part of his shift presenting drug- and gang-education programs in
area schools.

Twelve officers in a community isn't enough, Sullivan said. "We've got one
down and one in the DARE program. It spread us too thin for the size of our
population. A lot of times it only left us with only one officer on duty.
That bothered me a lot."

The city has about 9,645 people, and that's just in the city, Sullivan
said. "But if you just go out a mile or two, we're up to 15,000 real easy."

Sullivan said police officers will continue to visit schools, but he
doesn't know when the programs will start again.

Mount Washington Middle School principal Bonita Franklin is concerned about
losing the programs. DARE is for fifth-graders, and GREAT is for
seventh-graders.

"It will definitely have an impact," Franklin said. "In fact, what they
tell us in all the training that we're going through is that if there's
going to be any type of terrorist-related acts, the schools are one of the
first targets. It saddens me that they are going to be taking an officer
out of the schools."

Franklin said occasional visits aren't of much value. "We don't need that,"
she said. "We need someone in here that is committed to the kids, who is
teaching children to make good choices."

Franklin said the GREAT program's success is illustrated by a dramatic
decrease in the number of discipline problems. "When GREAT came on board
here, my suspension rate dropped 50 percent," she said.

Franklin said Mount Washington Middle's suspension rate is the lowest in
the county, which she attributed to its being the only middle school in
Bullitt with the GREAT program. Mount Washington Middle suspended 18
students last school year. Suspensions at Bullitt's three other middle
schools ranged from 60 to 98 during the same year.

The school sometimes had up to 30 or 40 students a day in its in-school
suspension program, and Franklin said she had to hire a substitute to
assist the teachers. Now the school has a maximum of 12 students in the
program on any given day.

"That's a school filled with kids making good choices," she said. "We're
going to feel the impact at school, and yeah, they're going to need more
police officers on patrol because I guarantee you they're going to be
having more juvenile issues."

Jennifer Wooley, principal at Mount Washington Elementary School, said
she's very disappointed about losing DARE.

"You're starting at a crucial age with these children, and you're teaching
them at an early age to say no," Wooley said. "And they think Officer
Rodney Hockenbury (the school's DARE officer) is just the coolest thing
around. They love him. He's had an awesome impact on them. He makes them
want to be drug-and alcohol-free."

Hockenbury said he loves working with students. "It's been a very rewarding
experience and I'm happy to do it," he said. "It's been a pleasure, and I
hope to do it again sometime."