Pubdate: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 Source: Morning Call (PA) Copyright: 2002 The Morning Call Inc. Contact: http://www.mcall.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/275 Author: Melanie Gleaves-Hirsch PENNRIDGE SEEKS TO REPLACE DARE PROJECT Alert Aims To Stop Children From Substance Abuse. Administrators in the Pennridge School District are weighing a nationally recognized substance abuse prevention program to replace Drug Abuse Resistance Education, a longstanding course that is wrapping up its run in Pennridge elementary schools this year. The district, which will stop offering DARE to students when the current school year ends next spring, is focusing its attention on a program based in California called Project Alert. Although a final decision on DARE's replacement will not be made until later this fall, district officials were so impressed with initial research into Project Alert that they are sending four teachers to a training session in Langhorne, lower Bucks County, on Oct. 16. "We're looking for a program that has a proven track record and is age-appropriate for Grades 6, 7 and 8," Pennridge Curriculum Director Arlene Zielinski told school directors Monday. "This kind of framework looks very promising because it would mesh well with the goals of our curriculum." Zielinski and her colleagues are hopeful that they can launch a pilot program to replace DARE at Bedminster Elementary School in spring. If they are pleased with the results, Zielinski said, they would introduce the program into the district's six other elementary schools in the fall of 2003 or spring of 2004. During meetings with law enforcement officials from Upper Bucks county earlier this summer, police officials told Zielinski and other Pennridge administrators that the DARE program strained their departments in the areas of scheduling, staffing and training, Zielinski said. "At that time, we talked about the future for DARE, and we all came to the conclusion that we needed to find a way to transition to something else," Zielinski said. "Even with the conclusion of DARE at the end of this year, the police departments were very interested in maintaining a relationship with the schools. They still want a presence." Scheduling difficulties weren't the only factor in the decision to phase out DARE at other Pennridge schools. When police officials met with Zielinski and her colleagues, some law enforcement experts also cited studies that showed DARE doesn't always reduce alcohol and drug use in children. While DARE will continue in six of Pennridge's seven elementary schools until the end of this school year, Bedminster Elementary School no longer offers the program because township supervisors said the municipality couldn't afford to send an officer from the Bedminister Township Police Department. Project Alert focuses on preventing pre-teenagers and teenagers who don't use drugs from experimenting with tobacco, alcohol or illegal drugs. Another aim: to prevent young people who experiment from becoming regular users. Its curriculum teaches children the consequences of using drugs, gives them reasons not to use drugs, and sets schoolwide norms against drug use, according to the Project Alert 's Web site. It also helps young people identify the forces that pressure them to use drugs, and it encourages them to talk to their parents. Project Alert caught the attention of Pennridge officials because it actively engages children, Zielinski said. "We didn't want something canned, or something where the teachers stand up and deliver" the message, Zielinski said. "We wanted something that would really engage the kids, because they're the ones who are out there," encountering temptations and challenges. A $5,000 grant from the Bucks County chapter of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union will help pay for staff training, the pilot program at Bedminster and student materials. "This grant is very, very helpful and couldn't come at a better time," said Pennridge Superintendent Robert Kish. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth