DARE IS SAVED IN SUFFOLK-FOR NOW

Gaffney Calls Move To Kill Drug Program 'Premature'

Suffolk Police Commissioner John Gallagher is backing off a
contentious plan to scrap the popular drug prevention program known as
DARE-for now.

In a letter, County Executive Robert Gaffney called the rescinding of
the program "premature," and directed Gallagher to continue it at
least through the 2001-02 school year. Gallagher had hoped to replace
the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program this fall with another
focusing on drugs and other issues.

Gallagher's move to kill DARE, which sends uniformed police officers
into elementary schools to teach students about the dangers of drug
abuse, had sparked an outcry from some parents and educators.

Gallagher cited several long-term studies which he said cast doubt on
whether DARE, which has been offered for a decade in Suffolk, has
worked. He argued that a new state-mandated curriculum due to start
this fall would cover similar ground.

But a Suffolk legislative task force has not yet finished a survey of
students who have gone through the DARE program. The survey is
expected to be completed next month.

In a letter Gallagher received yesterday, Gaffney said that although
the new state-mandated curriculum and the department's proposed
program "may enhance the overall quality of drug resistance education
in our schools...all of the information needed to ensure that this is
the best course of action is not yet available and therefore the
withdrawal of DARE officers from classrooms is premature."

Gallagher yesterday also expressed reluctance to discontinue DARE
without a replacement and said he welcomed Gaffney's "suggestion that
we continue to study the program.

"I expect it will confirm some of the reservations I have about the
program, but I'm not going to prejudge that," Gallagher said.

But DARE's supporters in the county expressed relief at the
reprieve.

They had disputed studies which were critical of the program, citing
different reports suggesting that DARE worked. And they touted other
benefits, such as the development of positive relationships between
students and police, that they said surveys could not quantify.

"I'm ecstatic," Nancy Schwartz, who helped organize an extensive
letter-writing campaign by the Half Hollow Hills Parent Teacher
Association, said of Gaffney's decision. "I applaud him for realizing
you can't take this program away."

Legis. Allan Binder (R-Huntington) also praised Gaffney for
"protecting the DARE program."

"Now I just hope that the DARE program gets a fair hearing," Binder
said.

Although Gallagher has the authority to dismantle the program, he had
sought the lawmakers' blessing for an alternative: To make officers
available for a less intensive but more diverse series of
presentations focusing on drugs and other issues such as
cybersafety.

Also, while Gaffney has supported Gallagher on the DARE issue, it was
unclear whether county legislators would agree to kill the program,
especially in an election year.

Meanwhile, DARE America recently announced that it was overhauling the
program, switching the focus from fifth and sixth grades to older
students and instituting research-proven methods. The revamped
curriculum will be tested over several years with a $13.7-million
grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Suffolk is seeking to get into a pilot program for the revised
curriculum.