Pubdate: Thu, 17 May 2007
Source: Orange County News (US TX)
Copyright: 2007 Hearst Communications, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.theorangecountynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4253
Author: Greg Hayes, The Orange County News
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

D.A.R.E. TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

First Year Back Successful For Drug Resistance And Education Program 
In Vidor School District

The questions that Jerry Parker fields sometimes may  seem tough for 
someone to want to answer.

"Have you ever done drugs?"

"Did you ever drink? Why?"

But he answers every question he is asked truthfully,  because the 
ones asking him are the same ones he feels  are the most important 
for our future - children. Fifth  graders to be exact.

And Parker, D.A.R.E. instructor for the Vidor  Independent School 
District knows that they are looking  to him for an example.

"If we can affect one child to make the right decision,  it is all 
worth it," Parker said. "Whatever it takes."

The Vidor school district reinstated the Drug Abuse  Resistance 
Education program's fifth grade curriculum  before the start of the 
current school year.

"It is a scientifically based curriculum that covers the required 
categories for student education," Parker said.

"It is still the same process that was used by the  Orange County 
Sheriff's Department, before they dropped  the program [on Sept. 13, 
2004]. We just reinforce it  differently."

One way that Parker uses different reinforcement is  that he is a 
member of the school district's own police  force, so he is able to 
spend two days a week working  with fifth graders for three class periods.

Sheriff's department D.A.R.E. officers had to cover all  school 
districts in the Orange County area and never  had the chance to work 
with students one-onone.

"The program works much better this way," Tammy Cox,  teen leadership 
instructor and art teacher at Vidor  Middle School, said.

"Jerry actually gets to know the kids, something that  the county 
officers were never really able to do. They  just didn't have the 
luxury of getting to be around one  group of kids."

Cox said that she has worked with the D.A.R.E. program  over her 
tenure at the middle school, and said that  sometimes Vidor ended up 
getting the short end of the  stick when it came to the program.

"Some of the county officers were not able to get  across to the kids 
and get down on their level," she  said.

"That is really needed to make this program work. Jerry  is able to do that."

Parker said that in his eyes and from what he is seeing  the kids do, 
he personally views the first year of the  reinstated D.A.R.E. 
program as a success.

"These kids are sharp," he said. "They ask a lot of  questions and 
they want more information. I read the  essays that they write and 
they put a lot of the  information that they have learned into what 
they  write."

The D.A.R.E. program not only focuses on drugs, tobacco  and alcohol 
but also on bullying and violence, which  Parker also teaches classes 
on at the elementary school  level across the district.

"Right now we are reaching the 10-12 year-old age  range," Parker 
said. "But the most vulnerable years in  a child's life come in the 
13- to 14-year-old range.  I'd really like to explore the 
opportunities of getting  a class at the seventh grade junior high 
level to  reinforce what we are teaching here and to reach those  in 
the most vulnerable group."

Parker said that the workbooks and paperwork are  available for the 
seventh grade curriculum.

"It can't hurt to try," he said. "If we swing the bat,  we might hit 
the ball. But if we never pick up the bat,  we'll never hit anything."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman