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MINUTES <br />CITY COiJNCIL <br />NLY 15, 2002 <br />Thein disagreed with this description of SRO's and indicated that these officers <br />provide an important presence in the schools and also have built excellent <br />relationships with students and statl~. <br />Salter indicated that the experience with SI'ZO's and DARE officers in the classroom <br />are different. Altendorfer pointed out that the SRO is typically not in the classroom <br />setting, although he knows on occasion they do spend some time iu the classroom <br />talking about things such as shoplifting, basic law, etc. <br />Fahey asked Thein if Little Canada contributed $20,000 to a prevention program or <br />effort, would the School District use that money for an SRO or for DARE. Which <br />would Thein judge to have the most impact on kids. Thein indicated that he would sit <br />down with staff at Little Canada Elementary, with the City Council and City <br />Administrator to discuss the pros and cons before making a decision. <br />Fahey pointed out that the School District has been abdicating from DARL for what <br />they consider to be better use of their resources. <br />Anderson asked St. John's perspective. Mary Kay Rowan indicated that St. John's <br />has a different dynamic given that it has grades l< through 8. Rowan felt that in <br />addition to DARE at the 5°i grade level, it should be expanded into the T~' or 8°' <br />grade. Rowan felt that this was an important age for additional prevention efforts. <br />Rowan also felt it was very important to have the presence of officers in the schools, <br />and pointed out that the DARE officers have been a great resource at St. John's. <br />"there was some discussion of how the funding for DARE works at the private and <br />charter school levels. <br />Fahey indicated that the Council has to decide as part of the budget process whether <br />or not to continue DARE funding for 2003. Fahey stated that he was still confused <br />about the an~angement the Sheriff's Department has made with Shoreview and Arden <br />Hills with regard to subsidizing their DARE costs. <br />Altendorfer indicated that he would bring the equity issue back to the contracting <br />cities for discussion. Altendorfer indicated that the SheritTs Department is trying to <br />convince the 7 contracting cities that the DARE program is viable, <br />Fahey again indicated that he will have a big problem supporting the funding of <br />DARE under an inequitable cost distribution system. <br />Salter pointed ouC that the DARE program is ZO years old and the current curriculum <br />is coiropletely different than when the program was first started. That curriculum is <br />again being re-examined with the focus on shortening the program at the 5`~' grade <br />level and bringing it into middle school Ideally, the program should be in high <br />school as well. Salter indicated that no program is likely to be effective if it is <br />