Wv District May Trade Dare Program For Deputy In Schools

West Valley School District may drop DARE, the anti-drug program, and in return gain a full-time uniformed deputy in its schools.

Superintendent Dave Smith emphasized that no final decision has been made. Discussion at a school board work session this week, however, made it clear that West Valley officials hope the community will approve the change.

What would West Valley gain if it dropped DARE?

Spokane County Sheriff Mark Sterk has offered to pay for a full-time school resource officer, using DARE funding.

“When I heard that, that was intriguing to me because that’s more hours than we currently have our DARE officer,” Smith told board members on Wednesday.

Central Valley and East Valley school districts also are interested in gaining uniformed deputies in their schools. However, officials in those districts say DARE is popular there, and they will not consider dropping the program.

West Valley now has two part-time DARE officers teaching in its schools. Together, they now equal about a three-quarters position, said Dale McDaniel, drug and alcohol prevention coordinator for West Valley schools.

A move away from DARE does not mean West Valley would back away from drug and alcohol education, Smith and McDaniel both said.

Unlike neighboring school districts in the Valley, West Valley has its own drug and alcohol prevention program for all students, kindergarten through 12th grade. It also has Family Night Out drug education programs for elementary and middle school students and their parents, drug testing for athletes at West Valley High School, and two drug and alcohol prevention coordinators.

A uniformed school resource officer could help with drug prevention, offer a positive role model for students and serve as a liaison between the schools and the Sheriff’s Office.

Without DARE, it would be important for West Valley to develop its own ways of keeping drug prevention a high visiblity program, with graduation ceremonies, for instance, Smith said.

West Valley’s principals and members of its strategic safety committee have agreed that DARE is not the only way to deliver a good drug education program, Smith said.

A public meeting will be held in late February or early March, Smith said, to gauge community support for this change.

This discussion stems from a deputies-in-schools initiative pursued by Sterk. In December, the county received a $750,000 grant for six officers over four years. Local money must match the federal dollars at increasing levels each year; in the fourth year of the grant, only local money can be used.

If no other local money can be found, Sterk has suggested using DARE funds as a last resort, said Deputy Dave Reagan, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.

In that case, the federal funds would go unused, as the rules for the federal grant specify that the money can be used only for newly hired officers. If DARE money is converted into salaries for school resource officers, no new positions would be created.

Nationally, DARE has drawn criticism for failing to live up to its name, Drug Abuse Resistance Education. A 10-year followup study of DARE released last August by the University of Kentucky showed that there were no effects in drug use initially or during the follow-up study.

Support for DARE often comes from parents or school officials who applaud the way it changes children’s attitudes toward police officers.

“When children meet a police officer and learn that he’s human, that he’s a person they can have a positive relationship with, I really think that’s the jewel in DARE,” Reagan said.

Converting from DARE to a school resource officer would keep that positive experience intact, according to Smith, Reagan and others.