D.A.R.E. Overview
D.A.R.E. is currently focusing on the Elementary and Middle school children. Substantial numbers of young people have reported initiating use of alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana by junior high school.
D.A.R.E. offers a highly structured, intensive curriculum developed by education specialists using interactive teaching techniques. A basic precept of the D.A.R.E. Program is that elementary school children lack sufficient social skills to resist peer pressure and say no to drugs. D.A.R.E. instructors do not pursue the scare tactics of traditional approaches that focus on the dangers of drug use. Instead, the instructor works with children to raise their self-esteem, teach them how to make decisions on their own and help them identify positive alternatives to substance use. The D.A.R.E. curriculum addresses learning objectives consistent with those of many state departments of education and conforms to health education standards.
D.A.R.E. uses uniformed Law Enforcement officers to conduct classes. Uniformed D.A.R.E. instructors not only serve as role models for children at an impressionable age, but also have credibility on the subject of drug use. Moreover, by relating to students in this role, officers develop a rapport that promotes positive attitudes toward police and greater respect for the law.
D.A.R.E. represents a long-term solution to a problem that has developed over many years. Many people believe that over time, a change in public attitudes will reduce the demand for drugs. D.A.R.E. seeks to promote that change by reaching children at an early age. Equally important, D.A.R.E. instructors help children develop more mature decision-making capabilities that they can apply to many different situations as they grow up.
Program Overview:
The program content is organized into ten 45-minute sessions and conducted by a uniformed law enforcement officer.
Each D.A.R.E. instructor may be assigned to as many as twentyone classes per week. Officers usually teach no more than five class units per day, spending the balance of their time giving visitation lessons to grade K-4, follow-up programs to grade 6 to reinforce lessons learned, having lunch with students and interacting with students on the playground. Officers also hold sessions for parent groups, civic organizations and fauclty members to familiarize them with the scope of substance abuse and the D.A.R.E. Program.
On the islands of Hawaii, Kauai, Maui, and Oahu, this is continued at the Junior High/Middle School level and on Oahu and the Big Island of Hawaii, the High School level. The emphasis is to provide and reinforce the information and skills to enable students to resist the pressure and other influences in making their personal choices. In addition, lessons focus on helping students manage their feelings of anger and resolve conflicts without causing harm to themselves or others and without resorting to violence or the use of alcohol and drugs.
Scope:
Each year more than 25 million children world-wide are positively impacted the D.A.R.E. Program. Children across the country will learn the skills they need to resist the negative influences such as drugs, gangs, and violence thanks to the highly acclaimed D.A.R.E. Program.
The D.A.R.E. Program has proven so successful that its message is taught in 250,000 classrooms, in 7000 cities across each of the 50 states, as well as in 45 countries and in the Department of Defense schools worldwide.
The numbers and results are reasons that D.A.R.E. is one of the most widely used and effective drug education programs in the country. With that track record behind D.A.R.E., President Clinton, the United States Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Department of Education all enthusiastically endorse the D.A.R.E. Program.
On O'ahu, the D.A.R.E. Program is presented to fifth and eight grade students in most public schools and some private schools and several high schools. Statewide D.A.R.E. reaches approximately 36,000 students each school year in the grades K through 12.
The History of the D.A.R.E. Program in Hawaii:
The D.A.R.E. Program in terms of age is relatively young around the country. It began in 1983 as a cooperative effort by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District to help deter young children from using drugs and to teach them alternatives to substance use. This program got the attention of the Honolulu Police Department and in 1985 one officer was sent to Los Angeles to receive training in the D.A.R.E. Program. Within that same year, a pilot program was introduced to four Oahu schools, Kalihi Waena Elementary, Ahuimanu Elementary, Mililani Waena Elementary and Makaha Elementary.
Over the next few years, this pilot program continued to expand to several other elementary schools around Oahu. The positive response by the students, parents and teachers then prompted the Honolulu Police Department to send seven officers back to Los Angeles in July 1988 to be trained and qualified as mentors for future D.A.R.E. officers here in Hawaii. Later that same year, military law enforcement officers from the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and personnel from the Department of Defense joined forces with the police department’s efforts to expand the D.A.R.E. Program to 100 percent of the public schools and into other grade levels.
In July 1993, after being reviewed by Sgt. George Villalobos and Mr. Richard Riggs of the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles Unified School District respectfully, Oahu became an accredited State Training Center for D.A.R.E. and remains so today.
The D.A.R.E. Program in general, along with the D.A.R.E. Program in Hawaii, has remained visionary in ensuring that the needs of our keiki are met through the curriculum administered in the classroom. With that in mind, the original D.A.R.E. Curriculum of 17 lessons was restructured in 2003 to a 10-week lesson. In 2005, the program expanded to the Middle Schools of Hawaii. D.A.R.E. also has a high school curriculum and in October of 2007 officers statewide and within the Pacific Region were trained to teach this High School curriculum.
In 2010, the D.A.R.E. Program in Hawaii will celebrate 25 years of helping Hawaii’s keiki in developing their decision-making capabilities so that they can apply them to any and all situations as they mature in life. As the saying goes, “Anything worth having is worth working for.” The officers of the D.A.R.E. Program in Hawaii are dedicated to ensuring that working with our keiki will build a stronger Hawaii for the future.
D.A.R.E. HAWAII
MISSION STATEMENT
The Mission of
DARE Hawaii is two fold. First and foremost, DARE Hawaii is committed to
supporting the law enforcement officers in the State of Hawaii with materials
and incentives for conducting classes annually to elementary, middle, and high
school students, with the purpose of teaching our keiki the life skills
necessary to resist violence, gangs and remain drug free.
The second
part of our mission is the humanization process. This means getting our young people to relate
to law enforcement as people of the community in a helping role by opening the
lines of communication between law enforcement and the youth of the
community. Therefore, DARE Hawaii is
committed to serving as a conduit to provide information beyond drug related
topics while creating an open dialogue between the schools, police, and parents
to deal with other issues.
THEREFORE, D.A.R.E. HAWAII IS COMMITTED TO TEACHING OUR KEIKI OF HAWAII TO BE RESPECTABLE AND RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS.