Pubdate: Sun, 20 Jul 2003 Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) Copyright: 2003 Richmond Newspapers Inc. Contact: http://www.timesdispatch.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/365 Author: Joe Dombroski Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?135 (Drug Education) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Note: Joe Dombroski, is a Richmond-area enforcement supervisor for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS: MIDDLE SCHOOLS NEED D.A.R.E., TOO Another school year has ended, and the summer vacation is well underway. During the last two weeks of school most of the elementary schools in Central Virginia hosted a graduation ceremony for their fifth-grade students who had completed the D.A.R.E. (Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education) program. The auditoriums, gymnasiums, or multi-purpose rooms were filled with proud parents sporting cameras and a variety of recording devices. The fourth-graders filed in to watch the upperclassmen receive their certificates and awards. The proud fifth-graders marched in dressed in their brand new D.A.R.E. t-shirts, wearing huge smiles and beaming with pride. They had all written their anti-drug essays and submitted them with the conviction and commitment to be drug- and alcohol-free teenagers. Several of the students were chosen to read their anti-drug messages with enthusiasm to the supportive crowd. The crowd approved with thunderous applause and cheers. Parents with a child rising into middle school had the opportunity to experience this important milestone. Aimed at Fifth-Graders D.A.R.E. is a drug- and alcohol-demand reduction program that targets elementary school children at the fifth-grade level. It is usually taught by a local police officer. In Central Virginia we are fortunate to have police officers assigned to most schools as full-time school-resource officers. The D.A.R.E. classes are geared to providing youngsters with an initial exposure to illegal drug abuse and alcohol abuse. The presentation is very basic but outlines the ills of substance abuse and how it affects their future. The program lasts the entire fifth-grade year and culminates in the scene described above. Any adult who has ever experienced this ceremony realizes at that moment that we have anti-drug disciples, zealots who believe drug and alcohol abuse are bad and should be stopped. The cheers and congratulations of parents and teachers serve to reinforce the message and show adult support. They are now ready for middle school with a conviction to be drug-free. As adults, we know the toughest years of school begin in middle school. The children move to a new school with new peers, multiple teachers, changing classes, and more individual responsibility. Students are entering the stage of puberty, and boys and girls start to see each other differently. The clothes worn become more important. Who sits at which lunch table becomes important. Groups or cliques begin to form, and open discussions among these children move to new levels about drugs, alcohol, and sex. They want to fit in and be accepted. Their education on these touchy subjects starts to come from the "street," not the classroom. No Middle-School Help Unfortunately, the D.A.R.E. program does not continue in middle school to reinforce that anti-drug disciple we prepared at the end of elementary school. In some school systems, students get a small amount of anti-drug education in their eighth-grade health class that provides a basic overview concerning drugs. The hard-working teachers who attempt this instruction are usually viewed by the children as teachers/adults who are not really involved in the drug culture. Our children get little practical information about drug use during these important social development years. Critics of the D.A.R.E. program state it is a failure because it does not prevent or diminish drug use among eighth and ninth-graders. The reality is that the D.A.R.E. program ends in fifth grade. With a small amount of teamwork and coordination, this drug- and alcohol-demand reduction program can be at any middle school in Central Virginia by this fall. To repeat: Schools in our area have a school-resource officer assigned by the local police department. This effort can start there. I am willing to volunteer to train school-resource officers in the region through their departments on providing a middle school drug-demand reduction program for sixth- through eighth-grade students. It will be necessary for those well-versed in the effects of teenage alcohol abuse to offer their knowledge to these officers. The area school administrators and principals would need to adjust students' schedules for one 45-minute period per month to be set aside for the police officer to teach the class. That would be nine sessions per school year for each year of middle school. These resource officers already would be aware of some troubled students and would have the opportunity to become familiar with all of the students in the school. That is not a lot to ask for with the possibility of saving a life as the pay-off. PTAs, Parent Education The PTAs must get involved and sponsor parent-education nights, so parents can be provided the same information about drugs and alcohol their children are receiving. This information then can be reinforced at home. We have done numerous PTA drug-education talks in the area over the past three years and will continue to do so upon request. Our community leaders, such as our elected School Board officials and political representatives, must lend their support. If small funding issues arise for resource materials such as pamphlets, books, or t-shirts, they should enlist the assistance of community-friendly corporations. These corporations can provide support with charitable giving programs that improve the communities they do business in. Everyone benefits when we prepare our children for what they will be up against. The solution is right in front of us. It is teamwork - police, parents, teachers, community leaders, and our neighbors banding together in the classic American spirit to achieve an important goal for society. That is: a community committed to reducing the demand for illegal drugs and alcohol by combining enforcement, education, and treatment. DARE to win! - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk