DISTRICT, POLICE FORMALIZE AGREEMENT

The Atascadero Unified School District and the police department on Tuesday
entered into an unprecedented partnership that will allow the popular Drug
Abuse Resistance Education program to remain at four of the district's
elementary schools.

Under an agreement approved by the school board, the Atascadero Police
Department will fund the DARE program in its entirety and the district will
pay a portion of the school resource officer's $63,144 annual salary. The
remainder of the officer's salary will be paid with state grants. However,
if the grants are not secured, the district will have to foot a $22,000 bill.

Trustees Mark Tomes, Steven Beck, Andrew Hays, Suzette Scrivner and board
President Steve Arnold voted to approve the partnership. Trustees Eileen
Robinson and Wayne Cooper did not attend the meeting.

School officials first proposed cutting the anti-drug program earlier this
year as one way to balance the $41 million budget. Axing the program would
have saved the district about $25,000.

A consortium of police chiefs from around San Luis Obispo County spoke on
behalf of the program at a school board meeting last month. At that same
meeting Atascadero Police Chief Dennis Hegwood proposed forming an alliance
to keep the DARE program going at Monterey Road, San Gabriel and San Benito
elementary schools and at the Santa Rosa Academic Academy.