East Bernard ISD cancels DARE anti-drug program
By BARRY HALVORSON news@leader-news.com

Until about 25 years ago, children and teenagers got their drug education from their friends, on the streets or from the occasional Reagan-era "Just Say No" commercial.

This year, students in the East Bernard Independent School District will be relying on those old methods after the district dropped from the Wharton County Sheriff's Office D.A.R.E. program. Boling and Louise ISD remain full partners in the program.

Drug Abuse Resistance Education, the official D.A.R.E. title, is a national program introduced in Los Angeles in 1983 and offered in Wharton County since the fall of 1992. Since its introduction here, some 18,500 students have been reached by the program.

The reason for the cancellation in East Bernard came down to fairness and funding, according to county officials.

"I went before the (East Bernard) school board and told them we would provide the whole program or no program," Precinct 2 Commissioner Chris King said. "It just isn't fair to the other schools or county taxpayers to absorb the extra cost of having one district not participating at all levels."

When the program was founded, Wharton County Chief Deputy Bill Copeland said, the sheriff's office along with the Boling, East Bernard and Louise school districts each agreed to fund 25 percent of the costs.

A few years ago, he said, the East Bernard ISD made the decision to cut back on the program and reduce its Copeland said with three school districts participating fully, the sheriff's office needed two D.A.R.E. officers and with two districts only one is needed.

By dropping East Bernard from the program, only one deputy, Jeff Andrejczak, remains in the program. The second D.A.R.E. officer, Bill Holt, has been transferred to patrol.

"I like having an additional patrol deputy," Howell said. "It is something I've been asking for the past several years. But my preference would be to have the extra D.A.R.E. person because I'm such a believer in the program. I just couldn't justify the expense."

In discussing the school district's position, Superintendent Wayne Calhoun said his school board voted to budget the same 12.5 percent of the cost as it had the previous year.