ELGIN SCRUTINIZES DARE, FIRE CLASSES TO SEE IF THEY'RE WORTH THE PRICE

Fire-safety classes for kids and the DARE program in Elgin schools may
have laudable goals, but whether they're worth the big cost is another
question.

Elgin City Council members Wednesday night said they want City Manager
David Dorgan to conduct a study of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education
classes led by police officers and the fire-safety program run by the
fire department until it was cut last year to save money.

Councilman Tom Sandor, who has been supportive of setting aside
$30,000 in the city's 2005 budget to bring back the popular
fire-safety classes, said it doesn't seem to make sense that the more
costly DARE program still is running when dollars are the issue. He
requested the study to see the value of both programs and how they
could be paid for.

Elgin resident Laurel Bault, family involvement coordinator at
Garfield Elementary School on the city's southeast side, called on the
council Wednesday to find a way to resurrect the fire-safety classes.

"Let's do what we can as a community to prevent losing one of our most
valuable resources - children, and their families," Bault said.
"Garfield Elementary is located in probably the most vulnerable of
neighborhoods for fire fatalities. ... The value (of the program) is
priceless."

The fire-safety program was cut in 2003 - when Elgin was struggling to
balance its budget - because it was run solely with firefighters
racking up costly overtime bills. The DARE program was considered at
the time for elimination, but it was spared after lobbying by some
parents and students who said it was key to keeping kids off drugs and
out of gangs.

In exchange for keeping DARE, Elgin saved money by eliminating two
police officer positions in the crime prevention bureau and putting
them back on the streets, Dorgan said.

Three Elgin officers still teach 1,800 kids a year the DARE curriculum
at an annual cost of more than $177,000.

DARE has been criticized by some as having no real success in
achieving its mission, but proponents say that's not true and that the
value of having a police officer in schools cannot be given a price.

Discussion about reviving the fire safety classes and again examining
DARE came about earlier this month when the Elgin City Council started
its budget discussions. As of Wednesday's council meeting, Dorgan had
not worked to include the fire-safety program in the revised budget
that he presented, saying he misunderstood the council's previous
instructions.

He said he would study the options before the council is presented a
final draft of the budget, which must be approved by the council
before the end of the year.