Pubdate: Thu, 02 Jun 2005 Source: Boston Globe (MA) Copyright: 2005 Globe Newspaper Company Contact: http://www.boston.com/globe/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52 Author: Alyson St. Amand Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States) DARE STILL REACHING OUT TO AREA YOUTH Despite Poor Report, Many Believe Plan Can Curb Abuse A group of sixth-grade girls recently surrounded one of their classmates at the Rupert A. Nock Middle School in Newburyport. "Want to come to a party at my house? There's going to be beer," said one student, her arms crossed. "No. I don't want to go," he said. "You're supposed to be a man," she said in a teasing manner. But her target said "no" again and walked away, demonstrating one of the nine methods of refusal taught by DARE Officer Keith Carter, who orchestrated the role-playing exercise. Carter also plays trivia games, lets youngsters try out "drunk" goggles to simulate what it feels like to be under the influence, and uses a DARE box for students who want to ask personal questions anonymously. Despite a reduction in state funding and a federal report that questioned its effectiveness, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program is still alive in 16 towns north of Boston, fueled by private donations and local police departments who believe in its benefits. Rowley DARE officer Sherry David said her department continues to offer DARE, but the program has been cut from 17 weeks to seven. DARE officer Michael Newburg of Marblehead said his department pays his salary but he raises funds through local businesses and fraternal organizations for the workbooks, pencils, and other giveaways. The Marblehead Masonic Lodge donates money for the graduation shirts, Newburg said. But other communities have been forced to eliminate DARE due to local budget cuts, as well as the Legislature's decision in 2002 to reduce funding for programs including DARE from $4.3 million to $200,000. Detective George Naviskas said that despite Saugus's significant drug problem, the department had to eliminate the program two years ago because they needed the officers elsewhere. "Our drug situation is out of control. I've been here 33 years and I've never seen this state so bad in my entire life," Naviskas said. "We have to educate these kids." Other communities have replaced DARE with alternative forms of drug education, bringing in outside speakers and making it part of students' regular health curriculum. The DARE program began in Los Angeles in 1983. It was designed by the LA Police Department and the LA Unified School District to teach fifth- and sixth-grade students the consequences of drug use and the skills for resisting peer pressure. The program quickly spread to every state and expanded to include higher grade levels. But a 2002 report by the United States General Accounting Office raised doubts about the long-term effectiveness of the DARE elementary school curriculum, finding "no significant differences in illicit drug use between students who received DARE in the fifth or sixth grade and students who did not." The report was based on six independent evaluations of three studies conducted in Colorado, Kentucky, and Illinois schools during the 1980s and 1990s. Since the GAO report, DARE has launched a new curriculum, called Take Charge of Your Life or New Dare, which focuses more on preventive measures and student interaction. According to the most recent report derived from thousands of student surveys as part of a five-year ongoing study by the University of Akron in Ohio, the new curriculum is working. A group of independent researchers at the school are tracking about 20,000 students from six cities from seventh to 11th grades to see how DARE, now administered in the seventh and ninth grades, affects them. The study is in its fourth year. The latest evaluation said, "Students who received the seventh- and ninth-grade New DARE program continued to have improved scores on normative beliefs and refusal skills and improved scores on the consequences related to substance use compared to those in the 'control' schools." The program itself is not expensive, said Domenic DiNatale, director of DARE Massachusetts. The cost is $1 per child per year to cover the price of the workbook. But the cost to train and pay the police officers, as well as extras like DARE T-shirts, is what makes it difficult for local police departments, which already are dealing with budget and personnel cuts. In Newburyport and Newbury, Carter teaches the new DARE curriculum to 12 classes, with each lasting no longer than 45 minutes, he said. But his presence is still known at the Nock Middle School. On a walk through the school, the uniformed officer gave high-fives and chatted with students he knew by name. "That kid is awesome," Carter said, pointing out sixth-grader Steve Accanti. In the classroom, Carter presented Accanti with Darren the stuffed "courage lion," because a week earlier, Accanti comforted another student who was crying alone at a lunch table because he had been teased. Carter said that Accanti's actions support what DARE is trying to promote. The program is not a lecture-like "just say no" program, he said. Instead it focuses on drug education through student interaction, and helps to build self-esteem and respect toward others. Eleven-year-old Luke MacCarthy of the Nock Middle School said he likes coming to DARE classes and thinks that what he learns now will help him in high school. "Maybe our confidence will grow and we will take that with us," MacCarthy said. Sergeant Bill Scholtz, a former DARE officer for Amesbury, said he has mixed feelings about the DARE curriculum, piquing the interest of kids who might not otherwise have known about drugs. "I think it created a good liaison to the schools and the kids for the department and for the town," Scholtz said. But "I often questioned whether it was opening the eyes of the people who didn't know about it." In Beverly, which lost DARE a few years ago, a task force will look at the community's needs for substance abuse prevention. Through the SAFE and Drug Free School Grant Program and other funding, the school system will begin Second Steps, a program offered to students from preschool to middle school to promote good decision-making, anger management, empathy, and problem-solving skills. Emily Rockwell, coordinator of child welfare and attendance for Beverly, said the program would be incorporated into the high school health curriculum as well. Other communities such as Chelsea, Everett, and Salem have adopted similar health curriculum, including topics such as drug prevention, domestic violence, and bullying. Karen Godfrey, a life skills and health science teacher at the Miles River Middle School in Hamilton, said the school is looking to create a new more effective comprehensive health program. "The curriculum needs to be presented by someone they know and trust, not just by someone who comes and goes. I've always felt [DARE] was done in a vacuum," Godfrey said. But Naviskas thinks the program is still worth it, because over the years he has seen too many kids die of drug overdoses. "If you can save one kid, I mean it's something," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake