BETTENDORF DROPS D.A.R.E.

The Bettendorf School District will no longer offer the Drug Abuse
Resistance education, or DARE, program to its students, officials said
Tuesday.

DARE, which was offered in conjunction with the Bettendorf Police
Department, is to be replaced with a district-developed effort that
officials hope will incorporate a version of some of DARE's more
popular aspects. That, Assistant Superintendent Carol Webb said,
includes a graduation ceremony.

School and police leaders have been talking for more than a year about
whether to continue the nationally used program, said Phil Redington,
the Bettendorf police chief.

"DARE is a good program," he said. "It's lasted 15 years. But the
timing is right now to look at other programs."