TEACHERS SAY THEY MISS COPS IN CLASSROOMS

DARE Program Replaced With "Too Good For Drugs"

FREMONT -- Kamal Kaur says she knows what to do if someone tries to offer
her a cigarette.

"I would say, 'I'd rather eat dung than damage my lungs,'" said the
sixth-grader at Warwick Elementary School.

It's one of the many techniques students are learning these days as part of
"Too Good For Drugs," a new drug resistance program being phased in at the
school district's elementary schools.

The program replaces Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE, a popular
program that had police teaching elementary school students about the
dangers of abusing tobacco, alcohol and various illegal drugs.

Last year, the city and school district decided to scrap DARE after
research showed that the program wasn't showing measurable, long-term
success in deterring children from engaging in dangerous activities.

Officials planned to replace DARE with the Gang Understanding and
Recognition of Drugs program, or GUARD, designed by the Fremont Police
Department to be more relevant to local students than DARE, which was
developed in Los Angeles.

But GUARD was put on the shelf when the police department sliced its budget
by $2.4 million.

Until finances improve, GUARD will stay on hold, and police officers will
be kept out of the classroom and on the street, said Detective Bill
Veteran, spokesman for the Fremont Police Department.

"In order to have a GUARD program, you need to have staff to go out to the
schools," he said. "When we are able to reinstate the staff that was cut,
we will be able to bring back the GUARD program."

That left the district without a drug-awareness program last year, said
Cindy Gentry, director of the school district's Safe and Drug-Free Schools
program.

"Too Good For Drugs," along with "Project Alert" at the junior highs and
"Project TND" at the high schools, will fill that void at every school
within the next three years.

They're getting mixed reviews among teachers, who say they appreciate the
chance to go more in depth with their children about the dangers of drugs
and violence, but miss having a police officer in the classroom.

Students learned to interact with police in positive ways under DARE, said
April Bishop, a health teacher at Warwick. And coming from a police
officer's mouth, the information seemed to carry a greater weight.

"In a lot of ways, the kids are more involved (in the new programs) because
there is more role-playing than in DARE," Bishop said.

"On the other hand, it was very effective to have a police officer come in
and teach the class, which is a component we'll miss."