By JEFF LIPTON
As a result, the Democratic assemblyman is going to bat for the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program, which has been discontinued in the Long Beach schools, as well as schools statewide. D.A.R.E. is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that aims to teach children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug-free and violence-free lives.
During the past 20 years, Weisenberg has secured more than $110,000 in state grants to keep the program operational in Long Beach, but has recently learned that the state-funded program had been abandoned at the beginning of the school year.
In the local program, Long Beach Police Officer James Larson would routinely visit schools to discuss with students the importance of staying away from drugs and violence. Coloring books were also distributed to elementary school children with the message to resist drugs and violence.
But Lt. Bruce Meyer, a Long Beach police spokesman, said the state pulled the funding for the program this year after reviewing the effectiveness of the program. “There's been some talk about how successful it has actually been, and if it's even successful at all, so the funding has been discontinued at the state level,” said Meyer. “We're looking at it locally and assessing the program,” Meyer added. “The Long Beach Police Department does recognize the value of bringing a police officer into the schools.” Long Beach Superintendent Dr. Robert Greenberg said the schools will now have to pick up the slack. “We'll just have to incorporate much of what they do in our health education classes,” said Greenberg. “I think they did complement one another.” Weisenberg said he has not given up the fight to get the D.A.R.E. program, which he called “an educational resource,” restored.
“The police do a wonderful job with it,” said Weisenberg, formerly a teacher in East Meadow. “It's a great program and it's not to be lost.”
“Everyone is upset about it,” he added. “The program is very valuable and successful and it should be continued and I'm requesting that the program stay alive.” He said he has witnessed first-hand how trained officers have been personally responsible for impacting the lives of “generations of our youth, and how those positive messages stay with these young people for a lifetime.” He added that the success of the Long Beach program is measured in the “reciprocal benefits society receives when it invests in the safety and well being of our children.”
“I have already held several discussions with our Long Beach PTAs and school administration,” added the assemblyman. “Without a doubt, there is overwhelming support for and recognition of the success of our local program.”
But Tricia Barbato, co-president of Long Beach Central Council PTA, said her group is reviewing the potential benefits of the program.
“We are currently researching whether or not it's an effective program,” said Barbato. “I'm not saying that it's not a good program. We just want to look into it further before we advocate for it.” She said the Long Beach school district's health classes are expanding to include what D.A.R.E. has been teaching. She said the PTA will be in favor of anything that is successful in keeping drugs and gangs away from children. “I'm not sure how much drug resistance education the lower grades are getting, but health classes will be expanding,” Barbato said.
Also, Lt. Meyer said the Long Beach Police Department has created the Community Resource Unit, which will do many of the same things D.A.R.E undertook such as resistance to drugs, alcohol, gangs and violence. But the new unit will also teach computer safety such as prevention of cyber-bullying, and more officers, and some detectives, will be assigned to the unit, Meyer said.
“This will address the void that has been created by the loss of D.A.R.E.,” said Meyer. “We want to move forward with a program that does work.
“We recognize the value of the link between the police and the schools and we want to keep those lines of communication open.”
Weisenberg views the continuation of the DARE program as essential and will continue to explore options to keep the program operational in local schools. D.A.R.E. was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles and was implemented in 75 percent of school districts in the U.S. and in more than 43 countries, according to the D.A.R.E. Web site.
Comments about this story? Jlipton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
