SCHOOL DISTRICT CANCELS D.A.R.E

The Bellingham School District no longer offers the Drug Abuse
Resistance Education program because the city and the school could not
support the program in the wake of budget cuts, Bellingham Police
Department Lt. Mark Gill said.

"It's unfortunate, and I think we'll look back and see what kind of
effect it had," said Chris Lease, school resource officer at Sehome
High School.

According to the D.A.R.E. Web site, it is a collaborative program in
which law enforcement and local schools join to educate students about
the personal and social consequences of substance abuse and violence.

In the past, the Bellingham School District supplied $145,000 to pay
salaries for D.A.R.E. officers, but it had to cut its funding for the
2004 budget by 50 percent, said Bellingham Police Department Chief
Randy Carroll.

The City of Bellingham contributed $531,000 for the program. The city
had to make a 7 percent cut in every department in the city, including
the D.A.R.E. program, Carroll said.

It is difficult to gauge what kind of impact the absence of D.A.R.E.
is going to have on students and the community, said Kenn Robinson,
director of student services for the Bellingham School District.

In Whatcom County, 6 percent of sixth grade students and 33 percent of
10th grade students have used an illegal drug, according to the
Washington State Department of Health.

Bellingham schools previously had an officer full-time in each high
school and middle school and had one D.A.R.E. officer for every two
elementary schools, Lease said.

Now, each high school has one officer stationed at a high school to
deal with circumstances that arise daily. If necessary, an officer can
help at the middle schools, Gill said.

Even before budget cuts occurred, the Bellingham School District
planned to replace the curriculum with a health and substance abuse
program taught by teachers, Robinson said.

"The teachers know enough that they will carry forward," said Dave
Adams, principal at Birchwood Elementary School.

Cassie Barker had D.A.R.E. in fifth grade at Sunnyland Elementary
School two years ago.

"It's sad that D.A.R.E. has stopped because fifth graders, when they
go into sixth grade, don't know if they'll be pressured into drugs,"
Barker said.