Pubdate: Wed, 16 Feb 2000
Source: Saint Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
Copyright: 2000 St. Paul Pioneer Press
Contact:  345 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN 55101
Website: http://www.pioneerplanet.com/
Forum: http://www.pioneerplanet.com/watercooler/
Author: JOHN WELBES

SCHOOLS FIND THE MONEY TO REVIVE DRUG PROGRAM

Pleas From Parents Keep DARE Afloat. Parents' Pleas Save Dare From
Dying

The DARE program will remain in the Rosemount-Eagan-Apple Valley school 
district's classrooms, the result of parents who were upset by the decision 
to cut the anti-drug program two months ago.

District administrators have found the $50,000 needed to pay for the 
program and the school board voted earlier this week to keep the program in 
the district's 18 elementary schools next year.

"It was a battle, but it was a battle that was well heard," said Leslie 
Whitley, a parent at Echo Park Elementary who was among a group of more 
than 20 who came to a board meeting Monday night. Several parents made 
impassioned pleas to keep the anti-drug education program alive.

"As long as they could fund it without hurting other parts of the school 
district, we thought it was OK," Whitley said.

The DARE program for fifth-graders was one casualty of the district's $6 
million worth of spending reductions in next year's budget. The failure of 
a levy referendum in November prompted the district to make the cuts in 
December.

The money for the DARE program will come from the salaries and benefits 
that had been earmarked for Alan Hopeman, the district's former finance 
director, and the former communications director, Tony Taschner. Both left 
in January for new jobs. The finance position is expected to be filled in 
the next couple of months and Taschner's spot will be filled sometime this 
summer, said Ellen Rogalin, administrative assistant to the superintendent.

The move to keep DARE was opposed by only one board member, Judy Lindsay. 
She said she voted against reinstating the program in December because it 
takes time away from academics and it has not been proven to be effective, 
not because of the cost. On Monday she tried to remove the item from the 
board's agenda and to delay the vote, and later suggested that DARE be 
offered after school and on weekends so it doesn't cut into academics.

Earlier in the meeting, board members Rob Duchscher and Bruce Endler had 
criticized letters written by Lindsay's husband, Mike, which appeared in 
weekly suburban newspapers. Mike Lindsay, an official with the state's 
Republican Party, has chastised the school board for its spending decisions.

"It's definitely a political arena," Whitley said after the meeting, adding 
that she ultimately thought the process worked well. "We found there were a 
lot of people that were unhappy with the (initial) board decision" to cut 
DARE, and that prompted parents to get themselves organized. "When you 
believe in something the work that comes with it is OK," she said.

Kevin Sampers, a board member who originally voted against reinstating 
DARE, said that vote was about money and the district's budget trouble. Now 
that the district has identified money to pay for DARE, "my only concern is 
that if another large group comes to us" about another program that was 
cut, the board has to realize it can't reverse itself, he said.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart