ANTI-DRUG CLASS FIGHTS TO SURVIVE

DARE Needs Funds, Support

HOWELL -- As experts debate the effectiveness of the Drug Awareness
Resistance Education (DARE) program, local officials are struggling to find
money to expand the program beyond the fifth grade and into middle schools.

Police, city officials and school administrators have been unable to come
up with the estimated $60,000 needed to offer the DARE program to students
in the sixth , seventh and eighth grades.

State grant money used to set up Howell's DARE program is drying up, and
the Howell Public Schools is tightening spending after the district failed
to receive $2 million in additional funding from the state, said Richard
Terres, associate superintendent.

Police Chief Roger Goralski asked Howell City Council members at their
recent retreat if they would be willing to have the city pay for expanding
the DARE program into the middle school.

The city leaders told Goralski no, saying they were reluctant to commit to
a program with no serious prospects of finding a stable source of outside
funding.

"The whole point of the DARE program is 'repeat it, repeat it, repeat it'
- -- and it's frustrating to get kids in the fifth grade to where they
understand this, and then not be able to connect with them again until they
are in high school," Howell Mayor Geraldine Moen said. "The middle school
years are the most vulnerable years."

The expansive 17-lesson DARE program provides information about drugs,
alcohol and tobacco use. It tries to give children the self-esteem and
assertiveness training they need to avoid risky behavior.

Started in Los Angeles in 1983, the program is now used in more than half
of U.S. school districts. The program is supported by many educators, law
enforcement agencies and parents.

In recent years, the program has come under attack by critics who say its
effectiveness is short-lived. Some researchers say the program encourages
experimentation by providing information about drugs. Other critics say the
program does not work.

Jeannine Pratt, president of the parent teacher organization at Howell High
School and the mother of two high school students, disagrees with the
critics. She supports expanding the DARE program into middle schools.

"I do think it should be extended onto at least the eighth grade," said
Pratt, adding that her teen-agers, Derek Swackhamer, an 18-year old senior,
and Jarod Swackhamer, a 16-year old junior, both benefited from attending
DARE classes. She would like her first-grader, Cameron Pratt, 6, to have
the DARE program available when he reaches middle school.

"The best thing you can do to keep kids away from drugs is to educate them.
You have to keep the lines of communication open," she said.

Howell Police Officer Ken Taylor is the department's full-time DARE
officer. He is assisted by two other officers assigned half-time to help
Taylor present the DARE program to 600 Howell fifth-graders each year.

"In fifth grade, you have 10 and 11-year olds, and they are really gung-ho
about DARE," Taylor said. "But they really need a follow-up program to
reaffirm and support what they learn. Middle school is where kids are
starting to find their niche in the world."

Howell Public School Supt. Chuck Breiner said the district is fully
committed to the DARE program, but can't afford to expand it.

"If we had unlimited resources, we would have it at the middle-school
level," Breiner said. "We feel really good about DARE. It's such and
integrated part of our school culture that we would never consider
eliminating the DARE program."

(SIDEBAR)

The DARE controversy

* The Drug Reform Coordination Network has created a Web site on the
Internet devoted to re-examining the effectiveness of the Drug Awareness
Resistance Education (DARE) program. The site is at www.drcnet.org.

* DARE also maintains a Web site at www.dare-america.com. The site has a
special child friendly area for students to access information about the
program.