Welcome to the Web Page of the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office D.A.R.E. Program. In the future there will be more about this year’s D.A.R.E. classes and events. However, first lets take a moment to learn a little about the history of the D.A.R.E. program.
D.A.R.E. is a substance use prevention education program designed to equip elementary school children with the skills for resisting peer pressure to experiment with alcohol and drugs. This unique program, developed in 1983 as a cooperative effort by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District, uses trained uniformed police officers to teach a formal curriculum to students in the classroom on a regular basis. By helping students develop self management and resistance skills, D.A.R.E. is in the forefront of innovative programs designed to give young people the facts and to "inoculate" them against peer pressure.
1. INTRODUCTION.
2. UNDERSTANDING THE EFFECTS OF DRUGS.
3. CONSEQUENCES.
4. CHANGING BELIEFS ABOUT DRUGS.
5. RESISTANCE TECHNIQUES.
6. BUILDING SELF-ESTEEM.
7. LEARNING ASSERTIVENESS.
8. MANAGING STRESS WITHOUT TAKING DRUGS.
9. REDUCING VIOLENCE.
10. MEDIA INFLUENCES
11. DECISION MAKING.
12. ALTERNATIVES TO DRUG USE.
13. POSITIVE ROLE MODELS.
14. RESISTING GANG VIOLENCE.
15. SUMMARIZING DARE LESSON.
16. TAKING A STAND.
17. GRADUATION
Several of the D.A.R.E. lessons focus on building students’ self-esteem, stressing that children that feel positively about themselves will be more capable of asserting themselves in the face of negative peer pressure. Still other sessions emphasize the consequences of using tobacco, alcohol, and drugs and identify alternative means of coping with stress, gaining peer acceptance, and having fun. Through D.A.R.E., students learn that real friends will not push them into trying drugs, and that being grown-up means making their own decisions and coping with problems in a positive way. Most important, students learn and practice specific strategies for responding to peers who offer them these substances, rehearsing how to say no effectively.
Since D.A.R.E. began in 1983, it has continued to grow on the national and even international level. Currently, there are over 22,000 Officers teaching D.A.R.E. throughout the USA. D.A.R.E. is being taught in all fifty states and in several foreign countries. Over 25 million elementary school students have graduated from the D.A.R.E. program since its inception. The D.A.R.E. program was instituted in the Whitfield County, Georgia School System in 1988. The Whitfield County School Board approved the curriculum by an unanimous decision. In the first year D.A.R.E. was taught in two pilot schools: Eastside and Fort Hill. D.A.R.E. is now being taught in all Whitfield County elementary schools. The D.A.R.E. Officers for the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office are: Sgt. Darlene Roberts, Officer Judy Lewis, and Officer Tammy Silvers. They have a total of twelve years experience teaching the D.A.R.E. Program.
The main goal of the D.A.R.E. program is to keep kids from getting on drugs. It is our sincere hope, at the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office, that this program will help kids to make it through the school years and into adulthood harboring a drug free attitude. There is a war underway on our streets and in our homes. The only way to win this war is to start winning battles. The first battle that must be won is the one that is being fought within our children. Teach the child how to win this battle and the war is all but over.
