Pubdate: Fri, 03 Feb 2006
Source: Lufkin Daily News (TX)
Copyright: 2006 Cox Texas Newspapers, L.P. - The Lufkin Daily News
Contact:  http://www.lufkindailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3616
Author: Gary Willmon, The Lufkin Daily News
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

DIBOLL USING GREAT PROGRAM TO REPLACE DARE

When Angelina County's five rural school districts recently lost 
their funding for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, 
Diboll ISD Police Chief Jake Denman began looking for something to 
take its place that would be beneficial in helping school students 
steer clear of crime.

What he came up with is GREAT.

That's an acronym for Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) 
and, like DARE, is aimed at elementary students but will also include 
some curriculum for junior high students as well.

Denman just recently returned from two weeks of training in Phoenix, 
Ariz., on how to teach the program to public school students, and it 
proved to be intensive.

"The first week, they teach you what you're going to teach; the 
second week, they teach you how to teach it," Denman said. "Lesson 
plans, things of that nature. You are actually in the classroom 
setting to do this. It takes police officers and shows them how to be 
teachers."

For Denman, he'd like nothing better.

"I've got the best of both worlds," he said.

Denman said the training stresses over and over that "this is a 
preventive program that is one more tool given to us to help school 
children make better decisions."

Decision-making, goal-setting and anger management are three big 
components to the GREAT program. "It teaches refusal skills and gives 
kids a lot of practical applications," Denman said. "It's hard to 
refuse friends sometimes, but this teaches them ways to do just that."

And while it's hard for Denman not to make comparisons of the new 
program with the dearly departed DARE program, the Diboll ISD officer 
says GREAT "is life-skills oriented. It is aimed at at-risk kids in 
helping them get started thinking about their future."

The program can aim its curriculum to four audiences -- elementary 
fourth-graders, junior high sixth-graders, youth organizations such 
as the Boys & Girls Club during the summer months, and parents and 
kids together in family time, Denman said.

"Our plan is to start with the first two, since we'll be in the 
schools," he said. "We can expand from there to the other two to 
eventually be implementing all four curriculums."

The program includes "a lot of interactive things that teach kids how 
to deal with life," Denman said.

The elementary GREAT program lasts for six weeks while the junior 
high program will go for 13 weeks. "Since there is not enough time 
left to get it in, we won't begin the junior high program until next 
school year. But we can begin the elementary program this spring," Denman said.

Funding to get the GREAT program off the ground will come through 
Title IV monies, Denman said, that are set aside for school safety 
and security.

 From the initial year, Denman said the program can be funded through 
federal grant money that will allow the district to add a second 
police officer relatively soon.

"Once we get the second officer, he would be stationed at the junior 
high and teach the sixth-grade curriculum. He would also have a 
presence at the primary school. I would remain stationed at the high 
school but also cover the elementary campus and handle the 
fourth-grade curriculum there," Denman said.

The federal grants are administered through the Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Lufkin ISD has had a GREAT program going for over three years now, 
Denman said. "But just because Diboll is smaller doesn't mean kids 
wouldn't be just as susceptible to gang activity," he said. "I think 
this program has the potential to keep a lot of Diboll kids from ever 
getting involved with gangs -- period."

If so, then it will be GREAT indeed.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman