MINNEAPOLIS SCHOOLS DROP OUT OF DARE PROGRAM

Minneapolis schools will DARE no longer.

After 11 years, the district and the Police Department are pulling the plug
on the controversial Drug Abuse Resistance Education program in city
schools. Current classes will end by Jan. 31.

The program has been popular with students and parents, although its
effectiveness has been questioned for years. On Wednesday, as parents heard
the news, some were angry that there was no parent representative on the
committee that decided to end the program.

The district has been using the program for fifth-graders. DARE brings
police officers into classes to teach about the dangers of drinking and
chemical use.

Instead, district officials say, kindergartners through seniors will learn
a new comprehensive health program covering drug resistance and also
everything from first aid to exercise to emotional health to body systems.

"We're going to be able to provide a much healthier curriculum for our
kids," said Pam Lindberg, a district curriculum specialist in health and
physical education. "The ultimate is to have healthier kids."

Some of the about $500,000 a year the Minneapolis Police Department was
spending on DARE will be saved, and some will be spent on four new school
liaison officers to bring the total number to 19. That saves one aspect of
the DARE program that many parents like: having kids and cops get to know
each other.

Police Chief Robert Olson said several studies have questioned the
effectiveness of the DARE program when it's used in only one grade, as it
is in Minneapolis.

"If you're just using the single component, the fifth-grade component, it
doesn't make a hill of difference," Olson said.

Some concerns

DARE is used in most Minnesota school districts, including St. Paul, at a
total cost of several millions of dollars a year. In fact, the program is
used in 80 percent of school districts nationwide, according to the
nonprofit DARE America. Only a handful have pulled out of the program, said
Ralph Lochridge, director of communications for DARE America.

Lochridge said his organization's main concern would be that Minneapolis
children get an effective antidrug message. He said he doesn't think
liaison officers can be as effective, because DARE officers in the
classroom have more direct access to kids.

A 1997 Minnesota study by the DARE Advisory Council found that the program
seems to have little lasting impact in preventing drug or alcohol use.
Students reported that the drug-resistance strategies they learned during
17 hours of classroom instruction didn't fit the pressures they faced in
the real world.

"Peer pressure is a lot harder in middle school and in high school," said
Timothy Nelson, a freshman at Minneapolis' Washburn High, who's glad the
program is being discontinued. "It's better to start out at a younger age
and continue through middle school and high school."

Nelson participated Wednesday as a trainer for about 65 middle-school
students to become "bodyguards" -- students who coach younger kids through
some of those peer pressures.

"I had so many students come up to me and tell me that this was so much
better than the DARE program," Nelson said.

The district's new health program for kindergarten through sixth grade is
called Great Body Shop. Lindberg said that 26 schools are using the
curriculum now and that it will be phased in at the district's other 65
schools in the next two years.

Sheree Zaccardi, who is the co-president of the Parent Partnership Council,
said the district has some explaining to do. For one thing, there wasn't a
parent representative on the committee that made the decision.

She said she doesn't want kids to be without any antidrug messages while
the district gets the new program in place. And, she asked, how are
teachers going to fit one more thing into an already packed day? And where
is the extra staff?

"A comprehensive program would be wonderful, but if it's not properly
staffed to get the program across to all the kids, it's pointless,"
Zaccardi said.

Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Carol Johnson said she hopes the
district will hear more parent voices in the future through the elected
Parent Advisory Councils. She said that in this case, the district has
heard feedback over the years from parents about DARE. Some liked the
program, but many questioned it.

"They wanted to know, 'What are we doing at sixth grade, seventh grade,
eighth grade?' " she said. She also said the new curriculum will enhance a
health program that already covers antidrug issues, and she hopes that,
with extra teacher training, the program can fit into other subject areas.