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FOND DU LAC
D.A.R.E. PROGRAM
Contacts: Captain Mike Frank - (920)
322-3720
D.A.R.E. Officer Steve Olson - (920) 322-3746
| HISTORY In 1983, it was apparent that stopping the supply and abuse of illegal drugs was a nearly impossible task. Children were becoming involved in the drug culture at earlier ages and in greater numbers than ever before. In order to educate elementary school age children to the consequences of drug abuse, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) combined forces to develop a drug abuse prevention program entitled Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE). The pilot program began with 10 LAPD officers assigned as substance abuse instructors in the LAUSD. Each of these officers/instructors participated in an 80-hour training course. The DARE program equips 5th and 6th grade students with the life skills for resisting peer pressure to experiment with drugs and alcohol. Since DARE's inception, it has served as a model for agencies throughout the country. The City of Fond du Lac Police Department, in cooperation with the Fond du Lac Public and Parochial Schools, implemented the program during the 1990-1991 school year. Twelve schools were initially involved in the DARE program.
The DARE program has been revised
many times since 1983. As recent as 2007, lessons
in prescription and over-the-counter medications have
been added. |
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CORE CURRICULUM The DARE core curriculum targets 5th and 6th grade elementary school students who will be graduating into junior high and consists of 12 weekly lessons of a 55-minute duration with graduation on week 13. These lessons are conducted by a DARE Officer on a weekly basis. The lessons are structured, sequential and cumulative. A wide range of teaching strategies are used which emphasizes student participation, including group discussion, question and answer and role-play activities. Only DARE certified officers will be instructing the lessons. The overreaching goal of the entire DARE program is to significantly reduce/eliminate the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs and the use of violent behavior by young people. The DARE curriculum is the first in a spiraling interrelated series of three components including curricula at the 7th and 9th grade levels. The primary objectives of the 5th and 6th grade programs are directed toward developing the capacities needed to enable students to take charge of their lives with particular emphasis on healthy, pro-social decision-making skills regarding non-substance use and abuse. Those objectives include the following:
One unique aspect of DARE is that the officer not only teaches the DARE lessons, but stays in that particular school for the entire day. The DARE officer is there before school, joins in classes, eats lunch, joins in at recess and is available after school. The officer becomes a friend and resource person to each student. Documented national studies of a sample of students who have completed the DARE curriculum shows:
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