Some of the graduates at this year’s Drug Awareness Resistance Education program at Lake Forest Intermediate School will be older and wiser than the rest. For the first time since the local program’s introduction five years ago, more than 20 parents will graduate from the D.A.R.E. program along with their 5th-grade children in June.
The new program, called D.A.R.E. for Grown-ups, is being offered by the Lake Forest Police Department in conjunction with the school district as an adjunct to the core 5th-grade curriculum and will be offered again in the fall.
The standard D.A.R.E. program, started in 1983 in Los Angeles, teaches children how to resist drugs before they get their first drug offer, usually in 7th grade, according to Youth Officer David Barbknecht of the Lake Forest Police Department. Students discuss the variety of drugs available on the streets and through role-playing practice saying no to drug propositions.
“This is a new arm (for the D.A.R.E. program),” Barbknecht said. “You have to teach the village,” he added, borrowing a phrase from the best-selling book by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Vice Principal Barb Chronos said the idea is to involve any group that influences children in their decision-making about drugs. “We need the whole community to be involved in this,” she said.
Parents have met in five two-hour sessions to learn what their kids are learning about drugs. They have explored avenues that sometimes lead to drug abuse, such as poor communication between parents and children; patterns of drug abuse, such as genetic predisposition to addiction; and stress in families, such as divorce or job loss. The program also is intended to give parents permission to be parents.
“We want to tell parents that they can make decisions for their kids,” Barbknecht said, explaining that parents should not be afraid to say no to their children and tell them that taking drugs is wrong.
Police officer John Hughes, who has undergone special training to be certified in the parent program, stressed that he has been leading small-group discussions, not just acting as a teacher. “We’re in green territory here,” Hughes said, meaning that the first-time program has been allowed to take its own course. Hughes said he has been open to discussing any drug-related topic that the parents have found interesting, including what parents should tell their children about their own drug experimentation.
The adult program was developed by the national D.A.R.E. program and started in North Carolina in 1990. Most of the Lake Forest parents said they signed up for the program to support their children and share the D.A.R.E. experience with them.
Parent Jayne Johnson said she also wanted an education: “I’m in my 40s. . . . Drugs today are different. I want to know what she (daughter Stefanie) knows.”
Johnson said the program worked for her. “It gave me a larger insight into what’s going on,” she explained. “There are more addicting, more brain-damaging, more mind-altering drugs out there than ever before. We talked about the clues to watch for if your child is into alcohol or drugs: loss of attention span, change of friends, secretiveness.”
Lynett Koetz said her participation in the program will help her daughter Jena to understand the seriousness of drugs. “She’s getting to an age where she thinks (D.A.R.E.) is a little bit silly,” Koetz said. “My going lends it some seriousness and authority. I want her to take it seriously.”
According to Marshall Okun, his son Bryan was happy about his father’s participation. “My son was excited after the first day of class,” Okun said. “He wanted to know how class was. Now we can talk about what we both learned. . . . The community is doing the right thing with a program like this. It’s going in the right direction.”
Some parents mentioned the criticism that the national D.A.R.E. program has faced in the last few years but seemed committed to the local program. “I understand that D.A.R.E. is one of the least effective of these (drug) programs, but since that’s what they offer, I felt I should cooperate,” said Anne Csar, whose daughter Cordelia is in the children’s program.
D.A.R.E. critics cite a 1991 study commissioned by the National Institute of Justice, the research office for the U.S. Department of Justice. The study found that although the D.A.R.E. program does raise children’s self-esteem, increase social skills and improve attitudes toward police officers, it has no measurable effect on drug abuse.
“There is no program out there that is the end-all,” Barbknecht said. “Communication with parents and the community is important for that reason. It is one of many programs.”
Principal Rosemary Ferche said D.A.R.E. fits under an umbrella of drug-related programs offered by Lake Forest schools, including a 3rd-grade Just Say No club, 4th- and 6th-grade wellness programs that include anti-drug units, 5th- and 7th-grade D.A.R.E. segments and a high school drug-resistance program.
Ferche hopes that the program also will help parents get to know one another and form a network dedicated to a drug-free future for their children.
This connection among parents is invaluable, according to Chronos, just so they won’t hesitate to call one another to check on their children. “They aren’t afraid to do that when their children are this age, but for some reason in high school that (communication among parents) just falls apart,” she explained, so cementing those connections now is all the more important. “You need to know who your children’s friends’ parents are.”
Parent Kathy Ottensmeyer called the program preventive medicine, saying she wants to become more involved as a parent before peer pressure increases and friends become more important to her daughter Amy. “I’m more concerned about the next few years–the junior high school,” she said.
Barbknecht said the drug problem in Lake Forest can be especially difficult because “you can’t see it.” Youths in the affluent community have a ready supply of money to buy drugs and consequently don’t get caught stealing to support their habit. Many also have cars that allow them to go elsewhere to buy the drugs and use them. He also said that family denial and lack of parental supervision as well as the privacy afforded by homes on set-back lots add to the problem.
“It’s not like you can drive by an apartment complex and see kids hanging out on the balcony,” Barbknecht said.
Johnson is concerned about drug and alcohol use in Lake Forest and thinks being informed is the best way to combat it. “Drugs are not going away,” she said.
According to Barbknecht and Hughes, no drug program will work for everyone. The officers said that in their experience, 25 percent of the children in a typical D.A.R.E. class will never touch drugs, but 25 percent will experiment. The remaining 50 percent can go either way. The officers say they are out to swing that 50 percent toward drug resistance, and they’re counting on parents to help.
“We have them for such a short time,” Barbknecht said of the children. “Parents have them until they’re grown.”
