SCHOOL ADOPTION PLAN TO BENEFIT YOUTHS, COMMUNITY

PHILIPSBURG--The pilot project for the School Adoption Plan (SAP), launched
by the police at the Hillside Christian and Martin Luther King Jr. Schools
Tuesday, is intended to benefit students and by extension the community.

SAP coordinator Carol de Palm said the two schools were selected because of
the communities in which they are located. Eight officers, four at each
school, will "adopt" fifth and sixth grade classes at the pilot schools and
initially lecture to students about police, drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

The programme, also to be launched in Saba and Statia, is being executed on
an initial amount of NAf. 320,000. An additional amount of approximately
NAf. 100,000 is needed to publish 10 additional SAP pamphlets with
information on theft, vandalism, environment, alcohol, gangs, traffic,
gambling, discrimination, fireworks and sexuality, De Palm said. Three
pamphlets on drug, alcohol and tobacco have already been produced and will
be distributed to the pilot schools.

Some 400 students in the Windward Islands (including 220 in St. Maarten)
are expected to benefit from the pilot phase of the project, which is
intended to be extended to other schools.

Windward Islands Police Chief Commissioner Derrick Holiday told students
during a ceremony to launch SAP yesterday that he was happy his officers
had expressed interest to help "form our kids."

Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards said in brief remarks: "The programme is
geared towards our young people because they are the future and we have to
secure our future. The youths are part of the community and the community
has to be safeguarded as well. Together we can make a difference in our
country and protect our future." He called on students to "take in as much
as you can" from the programme.

Education Commissioner Sarah Wescott-Williams also lauded the initiative,
saying the programme had "great potential" to change lives. She said the
fruits of the programme might not be reaped "today or tomorrow," but would
be evident and beneficial in the long term.

Also attending Wednesday's ceremony were Inspector of Basic and Special
Education in the Windward Islands Patricia Scott, School Board President
Helmich Snijders and Director of the Police Academy of the Netherlands
Antilles LPO Alpha Falbru.

The SAP programme derived from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE)
carried out in the United States of America.