SUPPORT FOR DARE STILL STRONG IN AREA

State Budget Cuts Wound Program

Despite a $4.3 million state-wide budget cut, D.A.R.E. programs
throughout Massachusetts will continue to stay active, state D.A.R.E.
coordinator Michael Mather said last week.

"We haven't lost it. You don't have to have a lot of money to bring
the kids out," said Mather. "It's going to be wounded if you want to
call it that, but it's going to come back huge."

Out of 321 D.A.R.E. programs that existed in Massachusetts last year,
Mather estimates 100-150 will end due to lack of state funding.

Each school in the state is allowed to choose whether or not it will
offer D.A.R.E. to students.

"A lot of town gave up because the fundraising was up," said
Mather.

D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) is a police officer-led
curriculum in which students are taught how to resist pressures that
influence experimentation with tobacco, marijuana, alcohol and other
drugs. Trained police officers visit classrooms and teach the
curriculum, which is taught most widely to 5th- and
6th-graders.

A common misconception, said Mather is that D.A.R.E. is only for
elementary school children.

"That's part of the problem. It's not just for 5th- and 6th-graders.
It's for K through 12th-graders," he said.

Despite national criticism that the D.A.R.E. program is not effective,
Mather disagrees.

"We feel the program is the gold standard of drug prevention," said
Mather.

Many families and students in Massachusetts, he said have not lost
interest in D.A.R.E.

"I always have a lot of families calling me up about the program,"
said Mather.

This fall, D.A.R.E. chapters throughout the country will change the
way they teach drug prevention by taking a more hands-on and
science-based approach.

A revised version of the former, 17-week curriculum, the new,
nine-week curriculum is part of a five-year study conducted by the
University of Akron in Ohio. The study was tested in six metropolitan
areas throughout the United States before being deemed effective.

Titled "Take Charge of Your Life," the revised curriculum will involve
more hands-on activities in which middle and high school students will
practice role-playing real-life situations involving drug abuse.

These types of real-life situations could range from having kids
verbally resist peer pressure to setting up courtroom scenarios
involving drug-related cases, said Mather.

To become certified to teach the curriculum, D.A.R.E. officers must
undergo a rigorous, two-week training course. Officers are trained in
communication skills, classroom management, technology, and child
development.

Funding for the curriculum was made through D.A.R.E. America and a
$13.7 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in New
Jersey, one of the nation's largest philanthropic organizations
devoted to health and health care.

State Executive Director of D.A.R.E. Dominique DiNitale said, "People
think because we cut the funding (D.A.R.E.) is dead. It's not over.
With this new curriculum the program is in its best year ever."

According to DiNitale, D.A.R.E. chapters in Massachusetts make up 80%
of the programs nationwide.

Although some schools in Massachusetts have cut D.A.R.E., many schools
in the MetroWest plan on continuing to offer the program.

Ashland Police Chief Roy Melnick said he will do everything he can to
keep the D.A.R.E. program alive.

"I think it's very valuable," he said. "Kids get to become friendly
with police officers. It sort of puts a face on the uniform," said
Melnick.

Earlier this month, the Ashland D.A.R.E. program offered a free
concert to the public. D.A.R.E. literature was read and
D.A.R.E.-related souvenirs were given out. A total of 272 people -
kids, parents and seniors - attended the concert.

"(The concert) goes beyond the D.A.R.E. program. It gives officers a
chance to meet people too," said Melnick.

Throughout the year, D.A.R.E. offers a variety of activities including
cooking classes at Massasoit Community College, dances, bottle drives,
rodeos and golf tournaments.

Holliston school resource officer Jim Ward who has been a D.A.R.E.
instructor since 1997, said students benefit from the activities and
curriculum D.A.R.E. offers.

"I teach a wide variety about different drugs, self esteem, resistance
skills, media influences, examples of (drug-related) incidents in town
.. It lets kids know these things are out there," he said.

Ward said because of the low budget he can no longer give out
D.A.R.E.-related merchandise such as pencils, pens and erasers.

Getting to know many of the kids in the Holliston school district has
been an added bonus for Ward.

"The best thing about it is that I can connect with the kids," he
said.

Ward's office which he works out of during the school year, is located
in the lobby at Holliston High School. He said he enjoys seeing the
5th-graders he once taught walk by his office as grown juniors and
seniors in high school.

Hopkinton Police Chief Tom Irvin said families in Hopkinton have
remained satisfied with the program.

"The parents are very supportive," said Irvin. They seem to really
like the fact that we're trying to help their kids."

Irvin said he likes D.A.R.E. because it enables students to meet and
talk with police officers without feeling intimidated.

"I think it gets police officers more involved with kids. They get to
be exposed to police officers at a younger age."