TULLAHOMA ENDING SCHOOL ANTI-DRUG, ANTI-GANG CLASSES; MANN GOING TO
THS

The long-running DARE and GREAT programs that brought police officers
into the city schools to teach classes on the dangers of drug use,
alcohol abuse, substance abuse and violence, are being eliminated by
Tullahoma school administrators with the start of the upcoming school
year.

The decision to end the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) and
GREAT (Gang Resistance Education and Training) programs, which have
been part of elementary and middle school curriculums in Tullahoma
schools since 1995 and 2000 respectively, was not based on
dissatisfaction with them, Waylon Long, Tullahoma deputy school
superintendent and director of personnel, said.

Long said the decision was taken by the administration and did not
have to go before the Tullahoma School Board for action.

The decision was, instead, viewed as a way to better utilize the
Federal Title I grant funds that have provided funding for the programs.

Police Officer Rusty Clark, who has been teaching GREAT and DARE
classes, will return to regular patrol with the police department.

Police Sgt. Mike Mann, who originated the DARE program here eight
years ago, will now take on a teaching position at Tullahoma High
School, along with serving as the THS School Resource Officer, Long
said.

Mann, who remains a member of the police department, will receive his
teaching certification before school starts July 30 and will teach a
state-approved law enforcement and protective services vocational
program at the high school. Students in the high school's vocational
program have expressed an interest in classes about careers in law
enforcement.

"Last fall, students responded to a survey on the types of courses
they would like to have offered in the vocational program and law
enforcement and protective services was one of the top on their list,"
Long said.

Mann will teach two courses and, secondly, will serve as a School
Resource Officer, Long added.

"He will not be doing the type of things that are normally associated
with a School Resource Officer position. He is going to be a teacher
at the school.

"He will not be patrolling the halls, patrolling the parking lots, or
making arrests. He's still a police officer, but his primary function
will be to teach classes.

"But of course he will be able to work with us on any enforcement
needs at the school. We expect Sgt. Mann to be a real asset for us at
Tullahoma High School," Long said.

A Tullahoma Police Department spokesperson said the decision to end
the DARE and GREAT programs was not made by the police department or
city officials.

"It was a school administration decision," the spokesperson said. "We
have had a very positive relationship with the schools through the
DARE and GREAT programs."

Long said school administrators have continually supported the DARE
and GREAT programs and felt they had a good purpose in the schools.

He added that Mann's experience in the direction of those programs
would be valuable in his new position.

"We felt (moving Mann to a teaching position at the high school) would
be a better utilization of Sgt. Mann and the funding that we had for
these programs," Long said.

"We didn't eliminate the DARE program because we felt it did not have
a vital place in our schools, but we do feel this will be an
outstanding program for our high school, and it's one that the
students wanted."