Naperville police once proudly dared children to resist abusing drugs, but officers soon will dare to try a different approach.
The department has decided to sever its 10-year relationship with the once nationally renowned Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, joining a host of other Illinois police departments.
On Monday night, Naperville police will throw a party at the Brunswick Zone bowling alley on Aurora Avenue and they expect hundreds of 5th-grade pupils and their families to attend. It will be one of the last times the party, a semiannual event in the community, will be called DARE Night.
But that does not mean the department is ending its long-standing relationship with 27 public and private elementary schools in the city, said police Sgt. Joel Truemper.
“We’re still committed to trying to teach our 9- and 10-year-old population certain safety things. I don’t know what acronym they’re going to come up with for the new program but I’m sure they’re going to have something like this in the future,” Truemper said.
A panel of police officers and representatives from both Naperville Community Unit School District 203 and Indian Prairie School District 204 is searching for a replacement. The group will meet Friday to discuss its options.
The DARE program has received considerable criticism. A number of academic studies questioned its effectiveness, and many police departments decided it was an easy budget line to cut.
Police departments in Crystal Lake, Evanston, Skokie, Chicago Ridge and Peoria all have recently opted out of the program. Last month in neighboring Kane County, County Board members turned down Sheriff Ken Ramsey’s request for $15,000 in riverboat proceeds to pay for his department’s DARE program in the spring semester.
Naperville’s youth services commander, Lt. John Gustin, said the decision to drop the DARE program was made last year, before many of the criticisms were known.
Gustin said police and teachers have long had concerns about DARE. Some complained its curriculum–17 weekly lessons of 45-minutes each–took too much time from other classroom activities. Others said the examples in its textbooks were unrealistic and did not resonate with children, he said.
“What’s best for the 5th-grade kids is what drove this,” Gustin said. “We ultimately felt [DARE] was not the vehicle anymore.”
Naperville is looking to replace DARE with an established program that not only teaches children about the dangers of drug abuse, but also accomplishes other goals such as building self-esteem or teaching children about resolving conflicts peacefully.
The schools also remain committed to maintaining a police presence in the classroom, said Sandy Stelmach, District 203 student assistance coordinator.
