Pubdate: Fri, 04 May 2007
Source: Daily Vidette (IL Edu)
Copyright: 2007 Daily Vidette
Contact:  http://www.dailyvidette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/666
Author: Kristen Kligis, Jeannette Marquis, Mick Swasko, Guadalupe Rosales
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

DARE TO CHANGE

The end of this school year may also mark the end of  the DARE program
in nine public and parochial schools,  according to an article in The
Pantagraph.

The program, in which, police officers teach about  making the "right
choice" in relation to drugs, smoking  and violence will be replaced
in some schools with two  resource officers.

One officer will be assigned as a school resource  officer for
Bloomington elementary schools and the  other will return to
patrolling. This change would add  a third resource officer since
there already is one.

While some say the change was long coming, safety  concerns were
prompted recently when a 10-year-old  threatened a teacher with
scissors. District 87  Superintendent Bob Nielson said the DARE
program has  been useful but understand police have to prioritize
their resources.

Additionally, Bloomington Lt. Bob Siron said the change  is more for
safety than it is for education.

Several schools have already dismissed the DARE  program. Normal-based
Unit 5, for example, ended the  program in 2003.

Most of us went through the DARE program and many of us  agree that
the program is flawed. For many of our  peers, as well, the program
was ineffective.

Officers will still be around to interact with these  students, so is
disbanding the program all that bad?

The interaction, however, that students will now  experience with the
police officers will not  necessarily be a positive one. Afterall, the
police  officers will be there mainly for disciplinary  purposes.

Several parents in the Bloomington-Normal area have  expressed
opinions of both disappointment with the  program and also with the
ending of the program, which  began in Bloomington in 1990.

However, in 2003 The National Academy of Sciences  called DARE
ineffective. Additionally, the U.S.  Department of Education
prohibited schools from  spending "Safe and Drug-Free" school funding
on the  program because of its ineffectiveness.

It seems that the exclusion of this particular program  may not be
detrimental.

However, with the program gone, students will not be  taught about
drugs, violence and their consequences in  any specific capacity.

However, they will still be disciplined, for something  they may have
not learned about somewhere else. Is that  really fair?

We understand that the need for this change is  necessary with recent
violence concerns, but hopefully  the resource officers take some time
out to teach these  young children, rather than just disciplining them.

Since the officers will be around, they could be  channeled in case of
an emergency. A short one day  program can teach the same things that
DARE does, while  only taking the resource officers away for a short
period of time.
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MAP posted-by: Derek