Officials find replacement for DARE
By Sylvie Belmond belmond@theacorn.com

While DARE supporters argue that the 10week drug prevention course offered to fifth graders in Moorpark should not be cancelled, most city and school officials maintained that they are not abandoning preventive programs for young students.

At a budget workshop last month, the majority of the City Council proposed to cancel DARE to make funds available for a fulltime school resource officer, with Mayor Patrick Hunter and Councilmember Mark Van Dam opposing the idea.

"I've always supported having prevention. But law enforcement and school officials believe that the resource officer is more important than DARE," said Councilmember Roseann Mikos, a former elementary school teacher.

The city has been funding the DARE officer position for the last five years. But the costs should be a shared responsibility with the school district, said Mikos, adding the city has many other obligations as well.

Almost half of the city's general funds are used for law enforcement, which are projected at $6 million for the upcoming fiscal year. The federal government used to provide grants for both DARE and the resource officer but these no longer exist, said officials, who now must choose whether they want to pay for programs using local money.

The school district appreciates what the city has done over the years to help students in Moorpark and it has not lessened its commitment to drug abuse prevention education, said Moorpark Unified School District Superintendent Ellen Smith.

It takes a concerted effort over time to support young people in the development of resiliency skills and the resolve to make good decisions and live healthy lifestyles, she said in a letter to parents.

"Due to scarcity of resources, we have to make hard decisions about where we can make the biggest impact with law enforcement personnel," said Smith.

If the city would like to continue providing DARE as a gift to the children in the community, the district would welcome it, said Smith.

But if DARE is not funded by the city, the district is prepared to implement other suitable programs for the elementary level in conjunction with parents and teachers, and in keeping with state and federal program requirements, she said.

The school district priority is to reinstate a fulltime school resource officer at the high school because he is much needed to help keep the 2,400 students at Moorpark High safe.

The resource officer can help to prevent school violence and avert juvenile crime on campus and in the community. He also develops positive relationships with students, Smith said.

Thus, the city and the school district agreed to share costs to fund the resource officer position for the next school year. Each will pay $75,000 per year.

Students in Moorpark will continue to learn about healthy life choices throughout their school career.

State and federal funding for substance abuse prevention programs were reduced to under $30,000 in recent years. These funds must be used to implement drug, alcohol and tobacco prevention education with researchvalidated curriculum and other related services and, by law, cannot be spent on DARE, Smith said.

The district is using Project Alert. The program is taught to sixth graders and it is proven to be effective. It is eligible for federal funding and it can be implemented by teachers and student peers, Smith said.

Project Alert includes lessons on the consequences of using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. It will help students to identify internal and social pressures that lead to abuse and show them how to resist the temptations, recognizing the benefits of not using these substances.

Moorpark is not the only city that is canceling DARE. The Thousand Oaks City Council also voted to eliminate the program recently.

But DARE is effective and it should be preserved, said Dale Brown, regional director for DARE America at a recent city council meeting.

DARE has been an element of community policing for more than 20 years. It builds partnerships between police, students and parents, and provides campus security, Brown said.

The program was revamped to increase its effectiveness, Brown said. DARE uses stateof-the-art techniques to teach kids to think for themselves, he said.

But since they can't fund everything, other city councilmember and school officials indicated that drug prevention should be a community endeavor.

The school board will discuss the 2007/2008 school district budget at a regular meeting next Tuesday.

The matter will be finalized at a council meeting Wednesday when city officials vote on the 2007/2008 city budget.