Pubdate: Mon, 06 May 2002 Source: Messenger-Inquirer (KY) Copyright: 2002 Messenger-Inquirer Contact: http://www.messenger-inquirer.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1285 Author: Justin Willis, Messenger-Inquirer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.) D.A.R.E. SEES NO CURRICULUM CHANGE YET No significant changes have occurred in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education efforts of city and county law enforcement officers despite a report last year in which the national program acknowledged the need to change some procedures. School officials and police remain dedicated to the program and are confident of its effectiveness in thwarting children from experimenting with illegal substances while also allowing children to get to know officers as friendly and approachable people. A change is expected in the curriculum in the fall of 2003, said Daviess County Sheriff's Deputy Scott Wedding, one of the department's two D.A.R.E. officers. "If I didn't think the program was effective, I wouldn't have gotten as involved as I have," Wedding said. "We let them see a police officer as someone they can trust." Wedding reaches about 1,000 county school students and splits the work of visiting 17 schools with another deputy. Wedding, nearing the end of his first semester as a D.A.R.E. officer, has taught since January at Burns and Daviess County middle schools and at Philpot, East View, Country Heights, Tamarack, Utica and Burns elementary schools. The program is aimed at children in the final year of elementary school -- either fifth or sixth grade -- who are preparing to enter middle school. Studies show that drug, tobacco and alcohol use in the seventh grade have dropped but tends to pick up in eighth grade or later. The sheriff's department has expanded the efforts of the program to include seventh grade, said sheriff's Capt. David Osborne. "We've made some changes in that we've started another program," Osborne said. "We moved it up to middle school. We think it's a good program." The study did not challenge the effectiveness of the curriculum, but raised doubts about whether the program was more effective than less expensive anti-drug programs. Researchers with the University of Kentucky studied surveys from 1,400 children. The study began in 1988 with sixth-grade children in Lexington and surveyed them during the next 10 years. The study, released in 1999, found that D.A.R.E. graduates were no more likely to refrain from using tobacco, alcohol, marijuana or other drugs than children who attended less expensive drug programs. The national D.A.R.E. program announced in February 2001 that the curriculum was due for changes. Recommended upgrades to the national program included suggestions that coordinators be coaches and mentors in addition to being teachers. Owensboro Public Schools Superintendent Larry Vick said he has been in Owensboro since July and has not heard any complaints about the Owensboro Police Department's D.A.R.E. program. City police D.A.R.E. Officer Ed Miller was unavailable for comment. Vick said he was familiar with the study while previously working in Paris, Tenn., but felt confident in the program's curriculum and how it brought children positive experiences with police officers. "We decided it was worthwhile because it did promote a whole different concept of a policeman from what kids were getting from other places," Vick said. "We felt that it was such a positive way for the officers to be in school and to be seen as human beings. They were there to help and to serve and to protect." Wedding said he has seen the positive impact of the program first hand when he sees a student out of the classroom at the movies and they feel comfortable to say hello to him. Wedding said he recently viewed more than 400 essays written by students in which they explained the benefits of the D.A.R.E. program. Part of the curriculum involves discussing risks and consequences of drug use and talking about the most common types of drugs, including methamphetamine, he said. "If I affect one person I'm doing my job," Wedding said. "If I can save one child from getting involved with drugs, alcohol, especially methamphetamine, I feel like I'm doing my job. I hope I'm reaching a lot more than that." - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager