LEE SCHOOLS PREPARED TO IMPLEMENT D.A.R.E. PROGRAM

Peer pressure.

Those are two words that have survived long enough to be an issue in not
only the lives of today's adolescents, but also in the lives of their
parents, way back when.

Representatives from the Lee County Sheriff's Office and the police
departments of Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Sanibel know peer pressure is a
problem, and met with the Lee County School Board last Thursday to discuss
doing something about it.

The school board is ready to implement the new Drug Abuse Resistance
Education - or D.A.R.E. - program in Lee County.

The old curriculum, a 17-week block program, was available only at the
fifth-grade level and consisted of police officers lecturing students about
the dangers of tobacco, alcohol and drugs, with a unit on self-esteem.

"They realized they have to keep making it better under the criticism to
change the program," said Sanibel D.A.R.E. police officer Kurt Shulte.
"It's not just about drugs, but breaking down barriers people and kids
have, especially when it comes to police officers."

Lee County school officials anticipate a local plan of action to begin
sometime during the 2004-05 school year. With it, they say, will come a new
curriculum that is designed to be more lifelike and fast-paced. It will
consist of a 10-week elementary block and a 10-week middle school block.

For example, the program is expected to involve adolescents in the learning
process through group discussions and role playing.

D.A.R.E. America spends $12 million a year on its program, with about $2
million coming from government sources. The rest comes from

the sale of workbooks, products, donations and fund-raising.

In Lee County, the school board sets aside $3 million for school resource
officers, with roughly one third of that going toward D.A.R.E. efforts. The
new program, however, will not add money to the budget.

Since the national program's inception in 1983, critics have complained
that the D.A.R.E. program does not work.

Mariner Middle School teacher Lisa Michael believes there is nothing bad
about D.A.R.E., but she said more needs to be done.

"Peer pressure is a big problem," she said. "The student hears, 'If you
don't do this then they can't hang out with us.' It (peer pressure) is
still just as strong as before."

Graduates of the program, meanwhile, feel otherwise.

"D.A.R.E. made me think twice about a lot of things ahead of time," said
Estero High School student Ashlee Griffith, 17. "There were students who
were doing bad things and students who went through D.A.R.E. had a heads-up
on the right decisions to make."