EDUCATION MOVING PAST DARE

With No State Funding For DARE Programs This Year, Alternatives Are Being
Considered For The Future

When news broke last year that the state was pulling all funding for
the DARE anti-drug education program, Mechanicsburg and Carlisle
school districts and the associated police departments said they were
interested in continuing the program anyway.

And so they did, with the departments reporting that they taught DARE
classes through this school year on the strength of community donors
and then absorbed the remainder of the cost.

But changes are on the horizon.

"Starting with next school year, we will be in a custom-made program
with Mechanicsburg School District," said Mechanicsburg police Chief
David Spotts.

Spotts said the program, which is being developed by the district and
both Upper Allen and Mechanicsburg police departments, will include
some of the same drug and alcohol abuse and civic responsibility
focus that DARE does. However, he said, they are also going to make
it more relevant by adding information about current issues like
sexting, cyber-bullying and gangs.

Spotts said he hasn't heard an official name for the new program yet,
but he expects it will eventually emblazon what is currently the
department's DARE vehicle. The program will run on a combination of
funding from the school district, fundraisers by the departments and
in-kind contributions the department won't charge the schools for, he
said.

Staying involved

"We don't want to lose having uniformed officers come in and visit
our students," Spotts said. "We want to keep that spirit of
communication going."

Upper Allen Township police Chief James Adams said he is excited
about the changes.

"DARE was a registered, trademark, copyrighted program that we pretty
much had to stick to their guidelines," he said. The acronym stands
for Drug Abuse Resistance Education.

By contrast, the new program will be flexible enough that if
something happens during the school year that needs to be addressed,
it can be added.

Adams is also an advocate of community involvement. He said another
way his officers recently started fostering positive interactions
with students is by having an officer visit the Capital Area
Intermediate Unit's Hill Top Academy every Friday to read to an
elementary class and then have lunch with the students.

Todd Kelher, Hill Top's administrator, said the visits are
appreciated. Now if there is a time when police need to be called to
the school, he said, "It's not like, 'Oh no, what's up?'"

Ashlyn Rehm, Mechanicsburg Area School District's public relations
coordinator, noted that parents, counselors, health professionals,
teachers, administrators and a school board member are all involved
in developing curriculum for the new program, which will be
implemented in the elementary, middle and high schools.

"I think everybody's really thrilled," she said. In addition to being
more cost-effective, she said, "This is just going to be so much more
tailored to our community."

Carlisle

In Carlisle, police Lt. Michael Dzezinski said the department is in
the midst of administering the program to sixth graders in Lamberton
and Wilson middle schools.

Apart from $1,000 Dickinson Township donates for the program every
year, Dzezinski said, the department is absorbing the cost.

Last year police Chief Stephen Margeson said official grants of
between $2,000 and $3,000 a year generally covered the time the DARE
officer spent in the classroom, and then local donations helped with
the other costs of the program.

Mayor Kirk Wilson has indicated he will be reviewing the status of
the program at the end of the school year, Dzezinski said.

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THE STORY SO FAR

In March 2009, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency
confirmed that statewide funding for the iconic DARE (Drug Abuse
Resistance Education) program was cut to $925,000 for 2008-09 and
dropped entirely for this year.

Explaining the cuts, state officials cited the results of a 2003
study that questioned DARE's effectiveness.

Locally, however, several school districts said they valued the
program, not least because it gave children a chance to become
comfortable with uniformed police officers.

Police departments generally agreed, citing the programs as an
important part of developing community relationships.

Together, school districts and departments indicated they would be
working together to find ways to continue or replace the DARE programs.