EAST DETROIT KEEPS DARE IN SCHOOLS

Despite Budget Cuts, District Will Use Funds From Police Department Program

Eastpointe - The national drug prevention program DARE won't be among the
items on the East Detroit School District's chop block as officials
scramble to reduce a $3-million budget deficit.

Eastpointe city officials have agreed to come up with $40,000 to $50,000
from the police department budget to keep DARE, which stands for Drug Abuse
Resistance Education, going rather than discontinue the program midway
through the academic year, as school officials had planned.

"We feel that the program works very well here in East Detroit and didn't
want to see it discontinued," Eastpointe Mayor Frank Accavitti said.

For more than five years, East Detroit schools and the city have split the
tab for the DARE program, which costs roughly $78,000 to $80,000 to run.

School Board President Larry Burton said the district, which already has
slashed more than 30 teaching positions, had no choice but to cut DARE. He
hopes the district will be in better financial shape two years from now to
help fund half the program.

DARE is taught to fifth-graders or sixth-graders in roughly 70 school
districts across Metro Detroit. Held an hour each week over a 16-week
period, the program teaches students that any drug or alcohol use can lead
to addiction.

But a four-month study earlier this year by The Detroit News found that
message typically is lost on kids when they start experimenting with drugs
later. Still, Eastpointe officials say the program creates a good early
relationship between students and police officers, and could later deter
crime and drug use.

"You turn one around and prevent them from getting involved in drugs, isn't
it worthwhile?" Eastpointe Police Chief Thomas Danbert said. "That's been
our attitude here."

Danbert admits funding the entire DARE tab will put "a whack" on his
budget. He said the department either will have to cut back on supply
costs or possibly dip into its drug forfeiture funds, which are earmarked
for new police officers in the municipal courthouse.

"When you look at a $5-million budget, $50,000 seems like chump change. But
it's not," Danbert said. "something along the way has to be cut back. But
I support it, so I'm going to write it into my budget for next year."