TOWN, SCHOOL OFFICIALS SEEK NEW WAYS TO SHARE INFORMATION

Shared Police Costs, D.A.R.E. Effectiveness Discussed

MUNSTER -- Town and school officials met for more than two hours
Monday to discuss questions of mutual interest, from the costs they
share to police students to the major building projects affecting the
property each owns.

The two bodies have been holding occasional public discussion
sessions for several years. Policy decisions are left to regular
meetings of each board, but the interaction helps set some direction.

Drug control and prevention took the lead with school Superintendent
William Pfister reporting the latest in the school district's efforts
to share information with the Munster Police Department.

Following the meeting, Pfister said the intent was to put more teeth
in the school town's already stringent substance abuse policies.

Students involved in extracurricular activities and athletics sign a
"drug pledge" promising not use alcohol, tobacco or drugs. The
schools also employ random drug testing.

A recent effort to share information between the school district and
the police department has been scuttled by the Lake County Juvenile
Court, Police Chief Nick Panich told the two boards.

A similar information-sharing program has been operating in
neighboring Porter County for about 10 years, but Lake County
juvenile officials believe the policy to be illegal.

School board member John Friend proposed the schools consider looking
into a plan acceptable to the courts before revisiting the question.

Along similar lines, the two boards discussed whether the shared cost
of funding the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) met the mark.

Town Councilwoman Helen Brown asked if national studies might help
evaluate its effectiveness.

"For every study that says it's not working, another study says it is
working," said Judith Florczak, school board president.

Because of the difficulty of measuring its success, Panich said he
had considered inviting graduates to testify to the role the program
might have played for them.

D.A.R.E. Officer James Ghrist said his six-month experience with the
program left him little downtime because students brought him
concerns far beyond any drug issue.

With shared costs from such programs as D.A.R.E. and the School
Resource Officer being closely scrutinized by both the town and the
schools, Pfister said it's likely similar services could be provided
more economically. It's not a change he'll be proposing in the near
future, though.

Pfister said he prefers having the presence of one police officer in
the schools over two school safety specialists. But as the financial
screws tighten, Pfister said the question might come up.

The two boards also listened to a presentation by Munster Town
Manager Tom DeGiulio on the 200-acre park that will replace the
landfill and affected neighboring property and an update by Pfister
on the wrap-up of 10-year, $45 million school improvements.