D.A.R.E. PROGRAM THRIVING IN COMAL ISD

If James Moore ever questioned whether he was making an impact on students
through the D.A.R.E. program, he found the answer on the program's
graduation day at Mountain Valley School last year.

Moore, a deputy with the Comal County Sheriff's Department, is famous for
sipping on orange Fanta soft drinks during his weekly one-hour D.A.R.E.
(Drub Abuse Resistance Education) classroom sessions.

On D.A.R.E. graduation day this past May, Moore handed the 120 fifth-grade
students at Mountain Valley School T-shirts and certificates showing they
successfully completed the 12-week program. Every student, in turn, then
presented Moore with a can of orange Fanta.

"It was certainly a surprise," Moore said. "You wonder if you're really
getting through to the students. It's little examples like that, and it's
the times I see them in public and they introduce me to their parents and
talk about the D.A.R.E. program that makes me feel like I'm really making a
difference in their lives."

Moore has taught the D.A.R.E. program for three years, at Mountain Valley
School (now Startzville Elementary), Rebecca Creek Elementary, Hoffmann
Lane Elementary, Comal Elementary, and Arlon Seay Intermediate.

During the course of each 12-week program, taught to Comal ISD fifth
graders each year since the 1980s, Moore stresses the importance of making
healthy decisions and choosing friends wisely, and the dangers of tobacco,
marijuana, alcohol, and bullying and peer pressure.

"The curriculum is one that's taught worldwide," Moore said. "Each year,
doctors, teachers and law enforcement officials try and improve what we
teach in the D.A.R.E. program, so it's constantly evolving."

D.A.R.E. was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles and is now implemented in 75
percent of the school districts in the U.S. and 43 countries worldwide.

The D.A.R.E. curriculum is designed to be taught by police officers whose
training and experience gives them the background needed to answer the
sophisticated questions often posed by young students. The program's goal
is to give children the skills needed to recognize and resist the subtle
and overt pressures that cause them to experiment with drugs or become
involved in gangs or violent activities.

Moore's teaching methods have certainly impressed Comal ISD administrators.

"We see students forming a fantastic relationship with Officer Moore,"
Rebecca Creek Elementary principal Sharon Richardson said. "The rate of
discipline referrals we have from students who graduated from the D.A.R.E.
is so low, and I feel that's a direct result of the program."

Startzville Elementary principal Dr. Denise Kern agreed.

"Officer Moore gives the students an authority figure they feel they can
always confide in," Kern said. "I really think they get a lot out of the
program."

The Comal ISD program got a boost recently when some of the federal funds
awarded to the district through a "Safe Schools, Healthy Students" grant
went toward expanding and buying supplies for D.A.R.E.

That should keep students like Startzville Elementary's Lucas Krivoy
involved in the D.A.R.E. program for years to come.

"I think we were all looking forward to meeting Officer Moore and starting
D.A.R.E.," Krivoy said. "You can tell he's serious about what he does, and
that makes us want to listen to him and learn what he's teaching us."