DARE ELIMINATED AT GROVER BEACH SCHOOLS

DARE is designed to keep kids off drugs, but students from Grover
Beach, Grover Heights and North Oceano elementary schools won't get
the benefit of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program this year
unless an outside organization can step in to help.

The program was temporarily eliminated from the three schools in 2007
because of a lack of funding and staffing, according to Grover Beach
Police Chief Jim Copsey.

"We would love to do it," Copsey said. "(But) we don't have money to
do it. I don't have any staff to put on the program."

DARE was established in San Luis Obispo County and the city of Grover
Beach in 1988 through the Sheriff's Department, but a program wasn't
initiated in the city until 1995.

Since then, it has provided a curriculum focusing on teaching kids to
recognize and resist the pressures that lead to drug use.

"We believe it is currently the best program for educating the youth
of our community about the harmful effects of drugs, alcohol, tobacco
and violence," the Web site states.

But there is hope for the future of the DARE program in Grover Beach.
Copsey said the department is looking at alternatives.

"We're trying to work with the Sheriff's Department to possibly get
somebody to come in and do it before the end of the year this year,
but as of yet, that has not materialized," Copsey said.

"Without a person to do it, I don't see it happening next year
either," he added.

At Grover Heights Elementary School, Principal Dan Block said the
school's Parent-Teacher Organization drafted letters to the Sheriff's
Department seeking outside assistance for the program.

"This year, I've had several parents of sixth-grade kids just
concerned about the drugs that they're going to be exposed to," Block
said. "They've found that's a key year before most kids are exposed to
it, and it teaches them to just say 'no.' Their curriculum is more
extensive than that, but that's just the base of it."

Block is taking extra steps at Grover Heights to see the program
through.

"I've been working with many organizations to see that we can still
have it," Block said. "The best-case scenario is (having it presented
by) a local police officer, like from Grover Beach. We're still
hopeful for a solution. We just would love to not see this group of
sixth-graders miss out on the program."

North Oceano Elementary School Principal Mike Miller said the program
has been well-received by parents.

"There's a lot out there written about the DARE program, and that
raises concerns if it's not working," Miller said. "But what we find
in the years past is that when Grover Beach was able to provide an
officer, it makes a wonderful connection for our students to our
community. It's a positive thing for us."

Miller added the program was also successful when handled through the
Arroyo Grande Police Department.

The program actually helped solve a case of numerous rooms being
trashed on campus, he said.

"We had a really bad vandalism occur about five years ago," Miller
noted. "It was through the DARE program that we were able to catch the
perpetrators."

A call to the Grover Beach principal was not returned by press
time.

Since 2005, two Police Department positions were eliminated because of
budget constraints, with one of those facilitating the DARE program,
Copsey said.

From 2005 to 2007, the Grover Beach department contracted with Arroyo
Grande Police Department to provide the program, funded, in part,
through parent-teacher organizations.

Through DARE, students get lessons on how to manage peer pressure and
anger, avoid gang and other violence and improve self-esteem as well
as other methods to cope with societal pressures.

"I'm 100 percent in support of DARE and our involvement in the
schools, and I think all of our schools are supportive of it as well,"
Copsey said. "It's just a matter of logistics. We're looking at
alternatives to be able to try and facilitate DARE."