SCHOOLS STILL STAND BEHIND DARE

The lesson Friday at Bettendorf's Lourdes Catholic School was on assertiveness.

How do you tell a friend she can't cheat off your test? How do you tell a
friend he can't borrow your new bike? How do you tell a friend you don't
want to smoke marijuana?

Be assertive. Have eye contact. Stand your ground.

Bettendorf police officer Kent Keeshan stood in front of Elizabeth Rathje's
fifth-grade class and gave lesson No. 7 of the 17-week Drug Abuse
Resistance Education, or DARE, curriculum.

He knows exactly how he feels about DARE, even though there are vocal
critics who say the program is not worth the effort. He's not afraid to be
assertive and say what he believes:

"Here in the Quad-Cities, especially in Bettendorf, we're 1,000 percent
behind the DARE program," Keeshan said during Friday's class.

DARE, headquartered in Los Angeles, was founded in 1983 as a partnership
between the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified
School District. Its goal is to "provide children with the information and
skills they need to live drug- and violence-free lives. Additionally, it
establishes positive relationships between students and law enforcement,
teachers, parents and other community leaders."

The program originally was geared toward elementary students. The
curriculum has been expanded to include kindergartners through 12th-grade
students. About 40,000 officers nationwide are trained to teach the curriculum.

But the program is facing some challenges.

Early this year, the Iowa City Community School District decided to
eliminate the DARE program because it no longer fit with the district's
health curriculum, Superintendent Lane Plugge said.

Last month, national DARE officials said they will be coming out with a
revamped program while admitting the program could use updating.

Several studies have looked at DARE.

In one, researchers at the University of Kentucky tracked more than 1,000
Midwestern students who participated in DARE during sixth grade. The
students were re-evaluated at age 20, 10 years after taking part in the
program.

Although DARE intervention produced a few initial improvements in the
students' attitudes toward drug use, the researchers found in August 1999
that those changes did not persist over time. There were no effects on
actual drug use initially or during the follow-up period, the study says.

But Officer Keeshan said the program can't be measured by statistics.

"How can you get a stat for assertiveness?" he said. "It's so much more
than a drug a violence program."

Keeshan's boss, Bettendorf Police Chief Phil Redington, is a strong
proponent of DARE. His department is one of a small number in Iowa who
offer DARE to elementary, middle and high school students.

"DARE was never set up to be a program that was going to cure all of the
evils in the world. It was a small component in the big picture, one small
aspect of something positive in those kids' lives they can latch onto," he
said. "In every class, if you can get to one student, then you've
accomplished something."

Redington said the program builds a positive image of police officers in
students' minds. It also helps officers see that there is plenty of good in
the world.

"It gives the police officers a new perspective on their communities," he said.

The superintendents from Scott County's four school districts, Bettendorf,
Davenport, North Scott and Pleasant Valley, say they support the program, too.

North Scott Superintendent Pat DeLuca said hearing students read their DARE
essays at the program's graduation is one of the things that makes him a
believer.

One of the greatest benefits of the program is the relationship built
between the students and the officers, he said.

"I believe having law enforcement officials in the schools is going to be
as common as having a teacher aide or custodian," he said. "The officers
come in on a positive light to those kids and then they have a really good
understanding of what a police officer's role is.

"You can't believe the relationships those kids build with those officers,"
he added.