Wallingford - No DARE, but results were mixed, Menzo says

As published in the Record Journal on Monday March 25, 2013

By Eric Vo
Record-Journal staff
evo@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2235
Twitter:@ericvoRJ

WALLINGFORD - With the DARE program no longer operating in town schools, administrators are relying on health and physical education teachers to bring the drug prevention message to students.

DARE, which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, is a program typically funded by a municipality. Under the program, a police officer receives training and addresses students about drugs and the dangers of using them. DARE was in operation in the town’s schools for a number of years, but due to staff reductions and budget cuts in the Police Department, the program was cut in 2010.

School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo said he had mixed feelings when it came to DARE, because the program’s results varied. To educate students about drug prevention, he said, administrators are looking at a “correlated approach,” in which teachers are rewriting the health curriculum to address the topic.

“We’ve looked internally at the expertise we’ve had and try to draw from that knowledge,” Menzo said. “We’re doing a good job and there’s always an opportunity for growth and improvement, but the staff stepped up and is writing significant curriculum. The health curriculum isn’t just a run-of-the-mill curriculum.”

One teacher Menzo recognized as having significant knowledge of the subject is Patty Pursell, a physical education teacher at Highland School and one of the three members of the 21st Century Innovation Team. Pursell said the teachers do a number of things to educate students because there is no formal program in place.

Each year a health fair is organized, at which social workers and organizations such as the Dry Dock talk to parents and students about drugs and substance abuse. Pursell said there’s no data to show that DARE is beneficial for students.

“Research-wise, it has shown that it’s not effective. DARE was founded in (Los Angeles) to address gang violence — it’s effective that way,” she said. “But in terms of drug education, it’s not.”

The DARE website includes a 2005 report from the University of Akron’s Institute for Health & Social Policy. In it, principal researcher Dr. Zili Sloboda said: “Simply put, there is no comparable national prevention delivery network like DARE in the United States.

The existence of DARE is an opportunity to bring the latest in prevention to millions of children and adolescents in both a timely and a quality fashion.”

Having a police officer come into schools to talk to students about drug prevention isn’t the best way to convey a message, Pursell said. Instead, “to make a difference with kids, you have to have a relationship with them ... the information is coming from someone they’ve known for a certain amount of time,” Pursell said.

As teachers do their best to address the topic, Ken Welch, a founding member of the Coalition for a Better Wallingford, said his organization is researching and evaluating drug prevention programs in other school systems to determine whether they are beneficial to students. One thing he wants to see in the schools is students being taught the science of addiction at an early age to discourage any interest in drug use.

“When they understand the science of how the body gets addicted, they’ll have a better understanding of drug abuse and its impact on their life,” Welch said.

“If you’re teaching the science of addiction, you aren’t offending parents, you’re not introducing them to drugs and you’re teaching them the impact of what happens when they’re addicted.”

With a revised health curriculum and better teacher student relationships, Pursell believes educators will do a good job of educating students about drugs and substance abuse.

“We’re trying our best,” she said. “I can’t say, ‘Yes, they’re doing better (without DARE).’ But I do have a good relationship with my students and I do know we can talk about certain things.”