Monday, June 27, 2011
At the latest Rockwood School District board of education meeting, administrators announced a reversal in their prior decision in May to eliminate the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program. It now will continue in 2011-2012 year.
Decisions about ceasing a police officer-based drug education program executed in the Rockwood School District since 1988 were reversed at the June 16 board of education meeting. Reacting to public outcry expressed at two board of education meetings and through additional phone calls, e-mails and letters prompted when district administrators announced the surprise elimination of the popular Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program on May 12, Rockwood's drug education committee members now indicate they will approach the program's evaluation differently. Prior to a presentation at the June 16 meeting from the committee of administrators and principals, including some new members, Rockwood's board of education president Steve Smith…
Friday, June 3, 2011
A variety of supporters for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program (D.A.R.E.) shared with Rockwood School District board of education directors why they still rally around it, and hope the district will reinstate it for next school year.
Although a presentation from Rockwood School District administrators about their new approach to drug education was on the agenda for Thursday's board of education meeting, board president Steve Smith announced it was canceled just prior to the public comment portion of the meeting. Nearly 80 local police officers, former Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) graduates, parents, police trainers and national law enforcement officials attended the meeting to hear the district's rationale for the recent program changes and to communicate their renewed plea for the D.A.R.E. program to be reinstated. Smith told the crowd the new district representative now responsible for overseeing that area of curriculum as director of elementary …
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Supporters of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program point to the fact President Barack Obama declared a national D.A.R.E. day in April. Rockwood's board of directors hear more pleas to save the program tonight.
Some Rockwood area police team leaders plan to show up in full force at tonight's Rockwood School District board of education meeting in support of reinstating in the district the nationally known Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, commonly called D.A.R.E. Patch broke the news about the district's surprising announcement to end the anti-drug education program, and covered various perspectives as the news spread among Rockwood families. Proponents of D.A.R.E. spoke at the May 19 Rockwood board of education meeting, and left packets of information from other supporters who could not attend the meeting that night. Eureka Police Chief Mike Wiegand, who was the first to launch the program in St. Louis County with the Rockwood School …
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Department spokesman says the police would have continued D.A.R.E. if Rockwood School District insisted. Instead, the district, and the police department, will take a different approach.
Like several other local police departments, Chesterfield police won't be participating in a Drug Abuse Resistance Education program (D.A.R.E.) program in Rockwood schools next year. But Lt. Steve Lewis, spokesman for the Chesterfield Police, said reports that Rockwood eliminated the D.A.R.E. program because Chesterfield Police were not able to participate aren't entirely accurate. Lewis said he met with Rockwood administration in January to discuss the Chesterfield Police Department's involvement in D.A.R.E. going forward. Personnel changes meant that another officer would need to attend the two-week training program to teach the D.A.R.E. curriculum. If Rockwood wanted to continue the D.A.R.E. program, Chesterfield Police would send an …
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
The following comments and questions from a Rockwood School District parent were sent to Rockwood Superintendent Bruce Borchers about the district's decision to eliminate the traditional Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.
Eureka recently passed an ordinance that requires a prescription for Sudafed…an over-the-counter drug. At the time of passage, the proponents' claims included that this ordinance would assist in the “fight against the meth scourge that is encroaching on our neighborhood.” Geggie, Blevins, and Eureka Elementary schools are at the front lines of the fight against meth…literally…Franklin County has been profiled in the Post Dispatch, ABC, CBS, and the Wall Street Journal as a “meth capital”…this threat is “over the hill” from Eureka. Chief Wiegand of Eureka has indicated he will continue to fund the DARE program. Why would you end this program? Is there data to support school nurses and PE teachers are better qualified to provide a capstone…
Sunday, May 15, 2011
A total of 87 fifth graders at Blevins Elementary School in Eureka graduated Friday from the nationally acclaimed drug abuse education program. It will be the last class conducted, given Thursday's announcement from the Rockwood School District.
Smiles, tears and hugs intermingled at the graduation ceremony held Friday afternoon at Blevins Elementary School in Eureka for 87 graduates of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program. While it was a day based on achievement of the fifth graders who just completed a 10-week course with D.A.R.E. police officer Jennifer Werges, the announcement that the D.A.R.E. program no longer would be conducted at Rockwood School District elementary schools stunned the parents in attendance. "The D.A.R.E. program is really informational," said Lori Passiglia, whose daughter graduated from the program five years ago and now is a sophomore at Eureka High School. "I was really excited to have my second child participate in the program this …
Friday, May 13, 2011
A Rockwood School District spokesperson explains what changes to drug education that district officials have in mind starting next school year.
Kim Cranston, Rockwood School District chief communications officer, responded Friday evening to Patch inquiries regarding the recent step to eliminate the drug education program called Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program. "This is a change in an instructional model; not a change in our emphasis or focus on educating students about substance abuse and the importance of making good choices," she said. Beginning next school year, Cranston said district officials are expanding the scope of the instruction provided by the D.A.R.E. program to include students in kindergarten through fifth grade. "The D.A.R.E. program is limited to fifth grade students. We are doing this (the expansion) through our health curriculum, which already…
Rockwood School District parents are upset to discover district representatives decided Thursday to eliminate the popular drug-related education program traditionally provided to area fifth graders from local D.A.R.E. police officers.
Future Rockwood School District fifth graders will not be dared to graduate from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program, due to Rockwood officials deciding Thursday to end the district's nearly 25 years of participation in the national effort. News of eliminating the popular program shocked many parents. D.A.R.E. is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children from kindergarten through twelfth grade how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug- and violence-free lives. Locally, the program has been executed during the fifth grade of elementary school, serving as a rites of passage for that important milestone year in students' education. Schools within the Rockwood District have …
James Dochnal
1:32 pm on Sunday, June 5, 2011
To the Parents of the students holding the sign. You are Blessed to have the AUWSOME CHILDREN more ›