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DRUG EDUCATION CONTINUES DESPITE LOSS OF D.A.R.E.  PROGRAM

One thing educators can do to combat the use of meth and other drugs is to offer drug-education courses to students.

Boswell Elementary School Principal T.C.  Wall said that despite the elimination of the D.A.R.E.  program last year -- a program hailed by some in the community and criticized as ineffective by others -- all fifth-grade students continue to go through a drug-education program.

"There's a lot of statistics on D.A.R.E., and some of them are in favor of it and some of them aren't," Wall said.  "I do know that fifth grade is a perfect time to introduce students to drug education, and it's a perfect time for a student to become aware of alcohol, cigarettes and those things that are gateway drugs.

"We have always had drug education in place at Boswell, whether D.A.R.E.  was there or not.  When D.A.R.E.  went away last year, we hired Lori Luthy to come in part time and administer drug education to our students, so she picked up where that had dropped off."

Wall said that this year, a new 10-week program sponsored by St.  John's Hospital-Lebanon will be offered to students and conducted by Al Nutter, the former Laclede County Sheriff's deputy who ran the D.A.R.E.  program for several years.

"Al Nutter is developing a curriculum for drug education, and we'll be implementing that right after the first of the year," Wall said.  "That's 10 lessons that he will be pushing into every fifth-grade classroom for an hourlong lesson, and discussing positive peer relationships -- things like how to say no when students are put into a situation where drugs are available, self-esteem issues, cliques and lots of different social issues that could possible lead to somebody being in that situation.

"So, it's not fizzled out.  You know, is it D.A.R.E.? Is it a 17-week program? No.  It's probably not as significant a program as D.A.R.E.  was.  But we are definitely trying to make sure our fifth-grade students get educated about the dangers of drugs."

Lebanon High School Principal Robert Smith, many of whose students went through the D.A.R.E.  program, is glad to see the new program come into being.

"D.A.R.E.  is one of those things -- I can't look at it and say 'boy, it's made a huge impact.' But at least it was an effort to try something," Smith said.  "And I would sure rather try something and reach 2 percent of the kids than have nothing, which won't reach any of them.  Although T.C.  is talking about 10 lessons now compared to 17 - -- 10 is a heck of a lot better than none."

While the new program is considered good news for the district, R-3 Assistant Superintendent Susan Gauzy said one of the positive aspects of the D.A.R.E.  program that has been lost was having a positive image of a law-enforcement officer in the classroom.

"Seeing a police officer as a friendly person, someone that's there to help you, someone that you can establish rapport with is important," Gauzy said.  "So, if there's any part of the D.A.R.E.  program that I think we would have a hard time replacing, it's that piece of it.  I think it's important that kids recognize police and law enforcement in general as friendly, as someone who will help them, and I don't know how to replace that."

Smith also noted that drug education has never been confined only to the fifth-grade level.  He said students continue to learn about the consequences of drugs, including meth, as part of the health and physical-education curriculum at the junior high and high schools.

"We still have it in all of our health classes.  Our seventh and eighth grade have a combined health/P.E.  class, and they talk about it.  The ninth grade has a mandatory P.E.  class, and they talk about it.  They talk about it in some of the upper-level science classes, and it comes up in advisory classes at the high school.  So, it gets talked about," Smith said.

Drug education also plays a role in career education at the Lebanon Technology and Career Center, according to its director, Gail Holcomb.

"It does come into play because our students operate heavy equipment, and they operate machining tools, for example," Holcomb said.  "It's part of our work-ethics curriculum, and it's part of an occupational requirement at many of the industries around when we put students in internships.  ...  It's definitely part of what we talk about when we talk about productivity, when we talk about teamwork -- all of that has to do with being responsible citizens."

Still, Smith believes drug education -- while important -- cannot be the only solution to the problem of methamphetamine use in the community.

"As Mrs.  Gauzy said, we can't go home with them at night.  It's one thing to have someone at school telling you that you shouldn't use drugs, but some of these kids go home, and whether it's their parents, siblings or a neighbor across the street -- if they're involved in the drug culture at all, I'm not sure how much good we're going to do until we take care of those problems outside of school that we can't control," Smith said.