Alexia Campbell, Sun Sentinel
The iconic D.A.R.E. anti-drug program — once a fixture in South Florida schools — is becoming a relic.
Fewer students in Palm Beach and Broward counties are parading the once-popular T-shirts and bumper stickers with the slogan “D.A.R.E. to keep kids off drugs.” In 2011, only 2,430 students in both counties completed the 10-week course, state records show. That's a sharp drop from 2008, when 6,318 students took part.
They don't have enough money to keep teaching the class, which aims to show kids how to handle peer pressure and avoid drugs. Rather, most schools use class time to prepare students for Florida Comprehensive Aptitude Tests, authorities say. Others claim D.A.R.E. is outdated and ineffective.
But most people agree on one thing: They're sad to see the program fade.
“I wish I could wave a magic wand and end the funding mess to bring the program back,” said Susan Mochen, who works for the Palm Beach County School District and serves as education director for the D.A.R.E. Officers Association of Florida.
Mochen credits D.A.R.E. — which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education — for keeping her drug-free while growing up in Homestead. The program remains strong in Martin and Miami-Dade counties, Mochen said, but it's unclear why most schools in Palm Beach and Broward counties have abandoned it.
“It's really concerning, because in certain communities there's a really high use of drugs and alcohol,” Mochen said.
Only one school in Palm Beach Gardens and one in North Palm Beach offered D.A.R.E. in 2011. Delray Beach was the latest to abandon the 28-year-old program.
Two sergeants taught the course at two city schools, but stopped in 2010 after teachers said they needed more class time to prepare students for the FCAT, said Delray Beach police Sgt. Nicole Guerriero, a former D.A.R.E. officer.
The department also lacks the money to pay for the D.A.R.E. workbooks, stickers and T-shirts, she said.
“We've been told to do more with less, and at some point we have to do less with less,” Guerriero said.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement covers training costs for officers in the program, but each agency must pay the trainee's travel expenses, plus $6.39 per student for a D.A.R.E. workbook and T-shirt.
The program, developed by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1983, uses skits, games and workbooks to engage students. Boca Raton police were the first to bring the program to Palm Beach County, and by 1989, all county fifth-graders were required to complete it.
All that changed a decade later, when a widely quoted study said that a group of children in Illinois who participated in D.A.R.E. reported higher rates of drug use than students who did not participate. The study's author, Dennis Rosenbaum, said new research was needed to re-evaluate the program.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office dropped D.A.R.E. the following year, and has tested other anti-drug and anti-violence programs with students. Now, several police agencies are preparing to teach an after-school course called G.R.E.A.T., according to the Palm Beach County Criminal Justice Commission.
The program, which stands for Gang Resistance Education and Training, is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice.
“Research shows [D.A.R.E.] is just not as effective as it used to be,” said Brenda Oakes, youth violence prevention planning coordinator for the commission. “It probably wouldn't work for somebody who already has substance-abuse issues.”
The national D.A.R.E. offices have revamped the program to include chapters on gang violence and prescription-drug abuse, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
In Broward County, police in Margate, Hallandale Beach and Coconut Creek continue to teach D.A.R.E. and say it's worth the cost.
School Resource Officer Jamie Lombardo has taught the program to fifth-graders at Liberty Elementary in Margate for four years. It's hard to measure the success of D.A.R.E., she said, but she knows it works because many students have recognized her years later and told her the impact it made.
“In middle school there are more opportunities for temptation and peer pressure. We want to prepare them for that,” she said.
Do police think the nation's most widely used anti-drug program will disappear? They said they hope not. Delray Beach is considering sending its two D.A.R.E. officers back into schools. It's crucial for police to connect with children and gain their trust, Guerriero said.
“I hope at some point the economy gets better,” she said, “and everybody realizes how important the program is.”
apcampbell@tribune.com, 561-243-6609 or Twitter @Alexia Campbell.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-dare-program-disappearing-20120103,0,2627307.story
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