DARING TO DO WITHOUT DARE

Teachers, administration say DARE program is missed, but not likely to
return any time soon.

Students in Burlington fifth-grade classes are not DARE-ing to say no to
drugs this school year.

Earlier this year, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, which had
been taught 14 years in the city, was the victim of budget cuts by the city
and the school district.

Gone from classrooms is Officer Kathy Houlton, who once taught students
about drugs and how to say no to them.

Houlton survived the job cuts by the Burlington Police Department for the
2005 fiscal year, but was reassigned to patrol duty.

In her absence, teachers say, fifth-graders are not getting the word about
the dangers of drugs nearly as effectively as in the past.

"I have some posters around the room," Corse Elementary School fifth-grade
teacher Wilma Deuitch said Wednesday, pointing out the only regular
reminder her students get on the topic.

Deuitch said she also offers verbal reminders, and shares some materials
she finds in the newspaper about drugs.

Students also are participating in Red Ribbon Week activities and are
getting the anti-drug message that way.

But it's just not the same.

A year ago at this time, Deuitch's students were getting a weekly lesson
about drugs - what they are, what they do, and strategies for staying away
from them despite pressure to experiment.

"It's a program that I feel is very necessary," she said. "I did not like
not to have it."

Deuitch said she doesn't have the materials or resources to teach her
students as the DARE officer was able to.

Corse principal Dave Van Ness said issues of drugs, alcohol and tobacco are
being addressed as part of the school's character education program. The
focus is not on those issues alone, however, as students are taught to be
good citizens.

At Grimes Elementary School, home-school liaison Aaron Wagner said, the
National Institute on Drug Abuse had sent materials for a six-week program
on drug abuse prevention. He was not certain whether any teachers were
using it.

While acknowledging that the long-term effectiveness of the DARE curriculum
had been questioned in many places around the country, Wagner said it is
"unfortunate" that Burlington no longer offers it to students. Drugs are
touched on in the science curriculum, but there is nothing on a weekly
basis about drugs and choices.

"We are not doing anything specifically to replace it," he said.

While personnel matters were the reason behind the police department's
decision to pull the DARE instructor, school district officials said in the
spring the district could not use any of its federal drug-free schools
money to cover the cost of the program.

New education legislation called No Child Left Behind prohibits use of
federal dollars to pay for programs that have not been shown in scientific
studies to do what they claim. DARE has never been so validated.

And although the district did put money into its 2004-05 at-risk program
budget, which is drawn from local tax revenue, to pay the bill for
returning a resource officer to Burlington High School next year, no money
was put in for DARE.

Superintendent Mike Book said recently that police department personnel
limitations was one reason. Another was that other priorities besides DARE,
such as covering the cost of teachers at the alternative high school and
offering summer school programs for middle- and elementary-level students,
were included in the at-risk budget.

On Wednesday, Assistant Superintendent Clark Goltz said that Grade A-Plus,
the local healthy lifestyles advocacy group that sponsors Red Ribbon Week
and other events like New Year's Rockin' Eve, has sample lessons available
for use in the schools.

Those lessons have been distributed to teachers in Burlington's elementary
and middle schools, he said. Even if used, the lessons are limited.

"They are not as thorough as DARE," Goltz said.