Kilgore Police Department School Resource Officers, from left to right, Officer Clint Johnson w/Officer Ruger; Officer Richard Stanley, and Officer Patricia Davis
K-BAD
Kilgore ISD’s Fight Against Underage Substance Abuse by Rebecca Smith, ACPS • Next Step Community Solutions On the Kilgore High and Middle School campuses, you might see an unusual acronym on posters or mentioned by students in the halls. “K-BAD.” It stands for “Kilgore Bulldogs Against Drugs.” K-BAD is actually a resurrected and improved program from the 1990s. Originally, the program was “Kilgore Youth Standing Superior Eliminating Drugs,” or KYSSED (pronounced “kissed.”) It is a unique partnership with the schools, the Kilgore police department, and Kilgore businesses through the Piney Woods Substance Abuse Coalition. “There were several coalition members around the table at our monthly meetings in 2018 who either had been in the program as students themselves and wanted to see it come back, or heard about how popular it was and wanted to resurrect it somehow,” said Rebecca Smith, program director at Next Step Community Solutions, the parent nonprofit that houses the coalition. “It took a few months of us
working on the logistics but everyone is really pleased with what we’ve been able to put together for the students.” One of the coalition members who was president of the program as a student in the 90s was April Cox, who is now the principal of Kilgore High School. “I loved being a part of this program when I was in school myself,” she said. “It means a lot to me to be able to bring it back for my students now.” Here’s how the program works: students sign a pledge to abstain from drugs and alcohol with the School Resource Officer (SRO) on their campus. After they sign a pledge, they get a K-BAD photo ID card they can use to get discounts at participating businesses and invitations to exclusive, fun events hosted by the Kilgore Police Department such as pizza parties during lunch, rented-out movie theaters, movies in the park, and bowling. “It was really important to us that we have student input,” said coalition member and Kilgore Chief of Police Todd Hunter. “The students were the ones 3