The D.A.R.E. question: Two districts with different approaches

IDAHO FALLS — One woman is leading a push to bring back Drug Abuse Resistance Education to Idaho Falls School District 91.

Annette Ward-Dixon is a concerned parent encouraging others to write to District 91 Superintendent Karla LaOrange to bring back D.A.R.E. after a seven-year hiatus.

“I am trying to bring attention to the lack of education to our precious children in School District 91 regarding drug abuse,” Ward-Dixon wrote in a letter to EastIdahoNews.com. “… I know that there is a rise of substance abuse and suicide in teenagers and even young children in our area. This was a big concern to our police officers when the program shut down.”

LaOrange said Saturday that she would be willing to “discuss and explore” reinstating the D.A.R.E. program with other school administrators.

“We always want to do whatever we can to help our students increase their skills in dealing with peer pressure and doing that in a positive and constructive way,” LaOrange said. “… My children also had positive experiences with D.A.R.E. and were very engaged in what they learned.”

She said the district has been adopting a curriculum that helps kids increase their resiliency and encourages them to make wise choices, but noted that the metrics on the D.A.R.E. program’s efficacy “have never been definitive.”

She emphasized that negative materials on social media also seriously impact students’ mental health and well-being.

“Right now, my focus is really on that anxiety, depression, and increased suicide rates, and focusing on (the correlation with) smartphones and the Governor’s executive order … related to smartphones,” LaOrange said.

However, she acknowledged the need for drug resistance education.

“I’m not saying there are not problems with drugs and alcohol. There are, and vaping — especially vaping — is huge,” LaOrange said.

‘Blue in the School’

District 91’s D.A.R.E. program was “temporarily suspended” in 2018 after a shortage of 14 officers led the Idaho Falls Police Department to “reassign D.A.R.E. officers to patrol and training responsibilities, ” according to an August 2018 news release from the department.

RELATED | IFPD suspends DARE program due to officer shortage

However, Idaho Falls Police Chief Bryce Johnson told EastIdahoNews.com Tuesday that the decision to discontinue D.A.R.E. on a longer-term basis was later affirmed jointly between the department and District 91 under Superintendent George Boland.

As a former D.A.R.E. officer, Johnson acknowledged the program’s popularity and reach.

“People like it. I think parents like it. The officers, when they did it, they would like it,” he explained. “There’s a lot of anecdotal stories of bonds being made between kids and officers, and I think you get some benefit out of that.”

However, at the time, he said, the program lacked statistics to show its long-term impact on drug and alcohol adoption as students progressed beyond elementary school.

“There was no actual data to suggest that D.A.R.E, in and of itself, made a difference in drug and alcohol abuse rates later in life,” Johnson said. “There was no empirical evidence that classroom time made a difference in overall statistical drug and alcohol use.”

In its place, District 91 decided to adopt another program called “Second Step.”

“‘Second Step’ teaches students how to communicate with each other,” LaOrange said. “It helps build confidence. It helps them address peer pressure, managing their time, how to manage feelings of anxiety or when they feel scared.”

The course is taught weekly by school counselors to students in each elementary school class.

“We made a collaborative decision that we would have police officers do what police officers are best at and have teachers do what teachers are best at,” Johnson said. “We pivoted.”

The two D.A.R.E. officers were reassigned as new School Resource Officers (SROs) – doubling the number of SROs in District 91 from two to four. (A fifth has since been added.)

“The school district really has been a great partner,” Johnson said. “Those two D.A.R.E. officers were 100% funded by the city. When we converted them to school resource officers, the school district picked up half of that cost.”

The Idaho Falls Police Department also adopted a new “Blue in the School” program that assigns a police officer to most of the district’s elementary schools. These officers play dodgeball, hold K-9 demonstrations, or put together “back-to-school” packs for students from kindergarten through sixth grade.

“They’ve done all sorts of different things with the individual schools to try to recreate those one-on-one moments with kids,” Johnson said.

District 93 pushing forward with D.A.R.E.

Meanwhile, the D.A.R.E. program has continued uninterrupted in Bonneville County Joint School District 93.

More than 1,000 fifth graders graduate from D.A.R.E. each year in District 93, said Superintendent Scott Woolstenhulme, where it is taught by Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Justin Cornelsen and other deputies.

“We see it as very effective … not just with the curriculum and the things that they’re teaching, but we’re building relationships and rapport with these kids at fifth grade, at an elementary level, that we see carrying on for years,” said Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Bryan Lovell.

The Sheriff’s Office provides D.A.R.E. classes in District 93, Swan Valley School District 92, White Pine Charter School, Taylor Crossing Charter School, Monticello Montessori, and recently added a group of homeschooled students, Lovell said.

In January, students in 11 schools graduated, and officers will teach fifth-graders in the second half of schools through May.

“We’ve had a great relationship with the Sheriff’s Office – both with our resource officers and with the D.A.R.E. program as well,” Woolstenhulme said. “They’ve just done a really good job of supporting our kids with that, and I think providing some valuable learning experiences for students that help them develop great skills when it comes to responding to peer pressure and to making really responsible decisions.”

Lovell stated that most school districts in eastern Idaho, including Pocatello-Chubbuck, Blackfoot, Jefferson, and Madison, provide the program.

“It’s something kids look forward to — they enjoy participating in D.A.R.E.; graduations are always incredibly well attended and really fun events,” Woolstenhulme said.

In addition to learning the D.A.R.E. curriculum about harmful drugs and substances, Lovell said the program improves self-esteem, encourages anti-bullying behavior and increases students’ confidence.

District 93’s approximately $700,000 contract with the Sheriff’s Office provides six full-time School Resource Officers and shared officers for Elevate Academy and Ririe School District, in addition to the D.A.R.E. program, Woolstenhulme said.

Will D.A.R.E. come back to D91?

As for District 91, LaOrange and Johnson said they are open to community input on D.A.R.E.

“We always want to do whatever we can to help our students increase their skills in dealing with peer pressure – doing that in a positive and constructive way,” LaOrange said. “… So I think anything we can do to help students understand how to resist those things and also build their self-confidence … and positive interactions with their peers – those are healthy life skills to have.”

Johnson emphasized that as a community-oriented police department, IFPD is responsive to the needs of its citizens.

“I think both the school district, the police department and the community would have to understand what that meant, though, if they wanted to reconvert those school resource officers to D.A.R.E. officers,” he said. “That means there are fewer police officers handling the incredible volume of police calls that occur in those schools.”

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