FIFTH GRADE PERFECT YEAR FOR POSITIVE FOCUS

Graduation from fifth grade is a bridge-crossing time for students in
Hays.

Those leaving fifth grade in the public schools are promoted to middle
school, and those at Holy Family Elementary are looking forward to
being the oldest students in the school the following year.

That's why Hays has chosen fifth grade as the targeted age group on
which to focus its D.A.R.E. -- Drug Abuse Resistance Education -- program.

"I think it's a good time to talk to the kids about positive choices,"
said Tom Meagher, principal of Wilson Elementary School, which had its
D.A.R.E. graduation ceremony Thursday in conjunction with its
fifth-grade promotion.

"I talked to them about that" at promotion, said Meagher, a father of
six children who went through the D.A.R.E. program in Hays. "About the
importance of getting involved in the positive things in middle
school, structured type activities that can help keep you away from
other sideline stuff."

D.A.R.E., founded in Los Angeles in 1983, is an international
education program that teaches students in kindergarten through 12th
grade how to resist peer pressure to involvement in drugs, gangs and
violence. This year marked the 25th anniversary for the program.

The Ellis County Drug Enforcement Unit provides workbooks as well as
T-shirts and certificates through drug seizure funds.

The school resource officers go into each of the fifth-grade
classrooms, taking the program to both public and private schools.

Brian Dawson and Jeff Ridgway, officers for the Hays Police
Department, also serve as school resource officers in Hays. They are
certified D.A.R.E. instructors, and they split up the six elementary
schools in Hays.

The program consists of 10 lessons of core curriculum, each about an
hour in length, and Dawson and Ridgway have added two more lessons on
bullying.

Dawson said he thinks it's an ideal setup.

"It gives an opportunity for an officer to get into a classroom and
make rapport with kids and talk about making healthy choices," Dawson
said. "Whether it's from D.AR.E. or being in the schools as a school
resource officer, that way (students) can see a familiar face if they
see us out and about."