WHEATON PARENTS TO FIGHT LOSS OF DARE

It's not uncommon for Annette Corrigan's children to inform her of
the lessons they learn at school about avoiding drugs, drinking and smoking.

And it's always given her comfort knowing these lessons came straight
from local police.

That comforting reality is threatened by a Wheaton budget proposal to
eliminate DARE officers from local schools.

And that's prompted a lot of concern and questions among Corrigan and
other parents at both public and private schools in Wheaton.

A pending city budget proposal would reassign the two DARE, or Drug
Abuse Resistance Education, program officers to other enforcement
duties. The police force would gain an additional shift commander, an
additional detective and a new, full-time crime prevention and crime
analysis officer.

In exchange, the elementary and middle schools would get a police
liaison officer. The duties of that officer are yet to be determined,
but City Manager Don Rose said there's no intention to have that
officer deliver the DARE curriculum.

St. Michael Elementary School already is passing a petition in hopes
of persuading the city to keep DARE. Wheaton Warrenville Unit
District 200 is considering ways to address the loss.

District spokeswoman Denie Young said concerned parents have flooded
the district with e-mails about the loss. She's reassuring all
parents that the essential lessons of DARE are already part of the
regular health curriculum.

"We know the students have enjoyed it and we would be sorry to see a
good program go," she said. "However, it is an important topic and we
would find other ways to deliver that information to our students."

Corrigan said the lessons just won't have the same impact without the
police presence. She has children at both St. Michael and in District 200.

Corrigan fears the only contact students will have with local police
now is if they are in trouble. It's not the first time she's taken
issue with police presence. She criticized the size of the police
force last year during a string of burglaries in her neighborhood.

"This move just goes back to the same old question from a year ago,"
Corrigan said. "The police budget can't afford two new officers, so
they're taking away from DARE. We pay a lot of money to live here.
Why should we have to go without the DARE program?"

Corrigan and others plan to show up in support of keeping the DARE
program at Monday's public hearing on the proposed city budget, which
begins at 7 p.m. at city hall.