Thoughts on DARE program

[The Mystery Machine]

I just saw on a recording on the news that they have discontinued DARE in my school district. What a timely topic.

Here you go....

The Rockwood School District is doing away with D.A.R.E. — swayed in part by questions about the program's effectiveness — drawing complaints from some parents and police.


"The timing stinks," said Eureka Police Chief Michael Wiegand. "We've got a large problem with heroin in west St. Louis County."


But D.A.R.E. — Drug Abuse Resistance Education, the nation's best known anti-drug program — has come under attack in recent years after several studies showed students in the program are no less likely to use drugs, cigarettes or alcohol.


Jill Ramsey, Rockwood's interim executive director of public schools, said the statistics challenging D.A.R.E.'s effectiveness played a role in the decision to eliminate it.
Ramsey said one of the key benefits of the program is officers' interaction with students, something the district intends to continue in a new curriculum.


"We understand the disappointment," Ramsey said. "But I hope a year from now, everybody says, 'Wow, this is better.'"


The Rockwood School District is at least the second in St. Louis County to eliminate the program in recent years. The Parkway School District got rid of D.A.R.E. in 2008.
At least seven police departments offer D.A.R.E. programs to Rockwood's 19 elementary schools.


"It is our position that D.A.R.E. offers us opportunities for interactions with students that cannot be duplicated with other programs," St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch wrote to the district.


Rockwood says it will incorporate drug education into an expanded health curriculum that reaches elementary school students in all grades.


D.A.R.E. provides a 10-week course for children in fifth grade. Police departments provide D.A.R.E. officers to schools at no cost and often pay for books and T-shirts.
Part of the tension between Rockwood and police may be due to how the district informed the departments that it was cutting the program.


Eureka police have taught D.A.R.E. in Rockwood for decades. But last year, when the district began talking about eliminating D.A.R.E., the department wasn't invited to participate, Wiegand said.


There also appears to be disagreement about what prompted Rockwood to re-evaulate its drug education programs.


Kim Cranston, spokeswoman for the district, said talk of cutting the program started partly because Chesterfield police informed the district last year that it would no longer provide a D.A.R.E. officer. Chesterfield police Lt. Steve Lewis said that wasn't the case.


The department brought up the issue with Rockwood, Lewis said, because it heard Rockwood was already thinking about getting rid of D.A.R.E. The department needed to know whether the district was going to eliminate the program so it could decide how to assign its officers.


Maureen Wuelling, who has four children in the district, came to a School Board meeting Thursday night to try to persuade the district to keep the program. D.A.R.E has helped start conversations in her family about drug abuse, she said.


"It instills values that last a lifetime," she said.

 

[si-am]

Good for her! It is sad when the 10 year old has to set the example.........
We set the good example FOR our children.

I guess if you believe alcohol is the devil, then I can understand the reasoning here.

Otherwise, no.

 

[Elaine22]

I just saw on a recording on the news that they have discontinued DARE in my school district. What a timely topic.

Here you go... They don't do DARE anymore at my old school. I don't know why DARE America doesn't understand that jeans aren't appropriate for graduations. They need change it to something else like slacks and skirts.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

I took DARE I think in 5th grade back in 1985! I don't remember it continuing at all in what was then called Junior High School (Middle School today) or High School. I thought it was a great idea for sure but absolutely should have been followed through in Middle School and High School.

 

[Elaine22]

I guess if you believe alcohol is the devil, then I can understand the reasoning here.

Otherwise, no.

I don't drink that stuff and I wouldn't!

 

[Mle8308]

This thread is from 2011….

 

[brockash]

I grew up in the city and we had a DARE program in 6th grade, just before we went to Junior High School (in my area we went to junior High for 7 & 8 grade). Only speaking for myself, it had a huge impact on me. I am very thankful for the program. I guess it just came at the perfect time for me and my group of friends. We were very adamant about not doing drugs or drinking alcohol while most of our peers were experimenting. Not only was it good for education purposes, but it also gave us peer support to say no.

I am sad to hear others are not having such a positive experience. I still remember the Officer that taught our group.

This was my experience as a kid as well. Not saying I never drank underage, but it was later and I do feel the DARE program had a positive influence on my life.

 

[DodgerGirl]

When I was a kid my school never had the DARE program and we mostly had safety classes from the time I was in preschool and when I was in preschool we had the Buckle Bear Program which taught us about car safety and i'm sure when you were a child your school probably had the Buckle Bear Program too. Then as I got older my school had classes with McGruff and the classes taught things like stranger danger and other things and we also had Fire and Earthquake safety classes and we had earthquake drills and they would let us watch Earthquake safety videos too. But what I think schools had to make kids do the DARE program and worksheets was because it was simply used as a casting call to cast students for future DARE commercials. Because my school used to sometimes have talent agents look for students to do modeling or do TV commercials for special subjects but I was never chosen as a model or an actress. But I don't recall my mother doing this program at her school growing up too and they mainly had sports classes