DARE PROGRAM GETS SIZABLE CUT

Officials express disappointment

COSHOCTON -- Effective the week of March 22, Coshocton County Sgt. Brent
McKee will be flying solo with the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.
McKee will be the only school resource officer for all three county school
districts because he said there is no more grant funding available for DARE.

McKee said it will be a challenge to distribute his time among 20 county
school buildings, including the Coshocton County Career Center, Sacred Heart
School and the Coshocton Opportunity High School.

This is despite the fact that in December, Attorney General Jim Petro
awarded a $10,156 grant to the Coshocton County Sheriff's Office for the
2003-2004 school year.

It costs the sheriff's office about $50,000 annually to put one officer into
a school, said Capt. Jon Mosier.

When Tim Rogers was elected Coshocton County Sheriff on Jan. 1, 2001, there
were four school resource officers. Presently there are two -- Deputy Keith
Wilt and McKee.

Deputy Wess Wallace, formerly with Ridgewood Local School District for two
years, is temporarily working as a dispatcher. As of March 20, Wallace said
he will be returning to road patrol.

"There's no way you can have hard feelings about that," said Wallace, adding
that he was disappointed. "There's nothing anybody can do about it. Although
I do wish there was money to continue it."

McKee said it's "a sad day in the community" that the program, in place
locally since 1991, is taking such a huge hit.

"I guess we'll have to do the best we can and move on from there," he said.

However, McKee thinks the DARE program has been effective. He said students
now see officers as approachable. For example, McKee said he now can have
meaningful conversations with students during lunch whereas they used to be
aloof.

There was a time when parents would see officers and tell their children
that the police would arrest them if they weren't well behaved. McKee said
the DARE program has helped change that adversarial attitude to a more
positive one.

"We're able to break those barriers down," he said.

Mosier said it's a good program that "gives kids a lot to think about."
However, he said it is difficult to discern its effectiveness because DARE
does not address the long-term effects or the pressures students feel from
their peers, the media and society.

Like McKee, Wade Lucas, superintendent of Coshocton City Schools, was
disappointed about the lack of funding because making students aware of drug
abuse is important, especially at young ages.

"Kids in the fifth and sixth grades are very aware of the problem. If we can
help one student, it would be worth it," he said.

River View Superintendent Kyle Kanuckel agreed.

"To lose that kind of resource is a big loss. They've done a great job
building relationships with kids. That's a positive thing," he said.
However, "when you lose funding, you have to make changes."

Kanuckel said River View schools will continue to address the dangers of
drug use in their health curriculum.

Lucas said he'd like to see Coshocton City schools obtain enough grant money
to keep DARE afloat. However, he wasn't sure how possible that would be.

In the meantime, he wants to "fill the void" by continuing to offer life
skills classes. Lucas even wants to see it expanded from one period a day to
40 hours a week.

Ridgewood Superintendent Dr. Victor Cardenzana said there are no plans to
supplement the DARE program presently. However, he was disappointed to see
what happened.

"With reductions everywhere, we understand that there will have to be
cutbacks," Cardenzana said.

Having law enforcement authorities in the school has been a good thing for
the students, he said. Cardenzana thinks their presence in the school helps
students know police are there to protect them.

"They learn to respect them and not be afraid of them," he said.