D.A.R.E. TO GO TO SCHOOLS

New Co-Ordinator This Fall

D.A.R.E. is going back to school in the Foothills, with new
co-ordinator Const. Krista Woods.

D.A.R.E. is a drug abuse resistance program, a 10-session course given
to Grade 6 and Grade 8 students across the M.D. of Foothills.

After 19 years of police work, Const. Woods is looking forward to the
new role.

"I'm very much looking forward to the positive aspect of it," she
said. "We give the youth the tools and the skills and the confidence
to make choices when it comes to drugs, alcohol, tobacco and peer
pressure situations."

Laurie McCreary-Burke, D.A.R.E. executive director, said the program
teaches life skills.

"Some of the things these kids are learning is how to deal with peer
pressure, like the actual skills they can use to say to a friend, '
You know what? I really don't want to do that,'" she said.

According to McCreary-Burke, the program is interactive. The set
curriculum has been redesigned so students can go find their own
information about drugs, smoking or liquor.

"The Grade 6 program is a one-hour-per-week program; it goes for nine
weeks with a graduation ceremony in the 10th week. The Grade 8 program
is a 10-session program too, but it goes in 10 consecutive days,"
McCreary-Burke said.

Const. Woods will be following the same lesson plan as in the previous
years D.A.R.E. has been in the schools.

"I will be teaching at the Grade 6 and Grade 8 level in all of the
public schools in Foothills," she said.

Former D.A.R.E. co-ordinator Geoff Carpenter is now working for the
M.D. of Foothills.

"I'm pretty pumped about the process here and the great people I'm
working with. It's kind of a change of pace," Carpenter said in an
interview.

D.A.R.E. was developed in Los Angeles, based on research that showed
kids are the most vulnerable to drugs, alcohol and tobacco when they
are 11 or 12 years old. According to McCreary-Burke, around age 12 is
when kids may start engaging in high-risk activities.

Woods will start as the full-time D.A.R.E. co-ordinator at the
beginning of the school year in September.