Rockwood School Board Gets an Earful from D.A.R.E. Backers

Although a presentation from Rockwood School District administrators about their to drug education was on the agenda for Thursday's school board meeting, board president Steve Smith announced it was canceled just prior to the public comment portion of the meeting.

The public comments were plentiful.

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 audience that Karen Hargadine, Rockwood's director of elementary education is newly responsible for overseeing curriculum programs such as D.A.R.E. and she needed time to address the matter. Hargadine has been the principal of since 2004. She was not present at the meeting.

"We have new leadership in that department. Dr. Hargadine will be transitioning in the new role in the next couple of weeks," Smith said. "The drug education presentation will be moved to the June 16 agenda. We won't be taking any action on it tonight. While we can't promise what will happen next, my own intuition is that the outcome may be more palatable to those in attendance tonight."

Smith said Rockwood's school board members paid attention to the emails, letters and phone calls, as well as comments made at regarding about eliminating the D.A.R.E. program in favor of a new approach that incorporates drug education into health classes throughout all grade levels of the district's elementary schools.

Ellisville Police Chief Tom Felgate said while he still thinks Rockwood is one of the finest school districts in the state because its representatives genuinely care about the students, he believes a "great disservice to the district's students and families had been done by dropping the D.A.R.E. program."

"This needs to be addressed, because it's counterproductive to the caring part of Rockwood," he said.

Felgate said burglaries and stealing incidents are rising in West County due to heroin addictions. He said police and other public safety groups had believed since 1993 that drug prevention is critical for fifth and sixth graders, due to their retention levels at that age and to the amount of peer pressure applied at that time in their lives.

"Please keep D.A.R.E., and keep our kids off alcohol and drugs," he said.

Elizabeth McConnell, D.A.R.E. deputy director for education in the St. Louis region, said she was stunned and disappointed that Rockwood would consider changing the program. "I will work with anyone, anytime about D.A.R.E. I didn't know you were working on it at all," she said.

"If ever there was a time to drop D.A.R.E., it's not now," she said, citing the rising incidences of kiddy-flavored drugs.

She also said national research indicates police rank higher than classroom teachers as preferred drug prevention confidantes among elementary students. "I think we're putting too much pressure on our teachers to do everything in their classrooms. Please let us at D.A.R.E. be a part of your solution," she said.

St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch, who also is a Rockwood-based resident with sons who attend the district's schools, said he could only imagine how embarrassed the directors must be, regarding how this strained situation came about.

"You probably had no idea it (elimination of D.A.R.E.) was going to be announced. Well, we're here tonight to help and to talk instead of just saying 'get out of our schools,'" he said.

Fitch said the county team of police officers would like to offer a compromise.

Through the recent Keeping It Real endeavor, he said all D.A.R.E. officers were about to get trained in the new methodologies and tools. "We're asking for one school year to allow us to transition to this new program," he said.

"Sure, it would be easier for me to put the four full-time D.A.R.E. officers back on patrol, but we see too many St. Louis County residents die from heroin. In fact, a lot of people are in denial about this problem here," he said. "My fear is that if we give up our time with our children, we won't get it back."

Fitch said the same situation had happened with the Parkway School District. "They dropped the program, and said we'd be back, but it's been several years and we're still not back in Parkway," he said.

Sheldon Lineback, executive director of D.A.R.E. for Missouri, provided packets to each director regarding studies that demonstrate the program's effectiveness. "Every person who graduates from our two-week core program can teach about safety, drug education, cyber bullying, meth and games. We want to work with you to benefit the Rockwood students," he said.

Sgt. Nancy Walker, St. Louis County D.A.R.E. officer in Ellisville, said she had been involved in police work since 1990 and worked with two Rockwood schools: Ellisville Elementary and Ridge Meadows Elementary. "I think not having D.A.R.E. is a big mistake. Students need the complete approach that the weekly D.A.R.E. classes supply," she said.

Walker said she's often told by families and older siblings of D.A.R.E. students how important the program is in opening up communications about drugs within individual families. "Not having D.A.R.E. could mean disastrous results for our children's future. And I think police benefit from getting to know the next generation of young adults," she said.

Jason Grellner, past president of the Missouri Narcotics Officers Association, said he was representing the sentiment of the 350 officers who work in that area every day. "We cannot arrest our way out of this problem. We rely on D.A.R.E. to reach our most at-risk children," he said.

Grellner said statistics indicate the majority of experimentation with illegal drug use starts happening when children reach 12 or 13 years old. "D.A.R.E. teaches them how to make intelligent choices in their lives. D.A.R.E. works, day in and day out. We have a war on drugs, and with law enforcement paying for D.A.R.E., we cannot understand why Rockwood would turn away a free program," he said.

Officer Kathy Kelly, St. Louis County D.A.R.E. officer, who works with South County schools, such as in Lindbergh, Mehlville, Affton, Bayless and Hancock, said the D.A.R.E. two-week extensive training gives officers the exact tools needed to help elementary students, middle schoolers, parent groups and community groups. "It's the tri-fold approach of police, community and schools. As D.A.R.E. officers, we want to make sure our kids reach their goals and dreams," she said.

Retired Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper Edward Moses echoed that effectiveness and positive impact of D.A.R.E., saying that they had researched other drug prevention programs, even completing a blind study about them. "As a former undercover officer and drug recognition expert, it's an alarming thing to consider how drug-related effects are changing," he said.

Moses emphasized that new grades of synthetic marijuana now are often 800 times stronger than marijuana sold in prior years. "Research indicates this new marijuana is doing things to our brains that drugs never did before," he said. "And we've seen several deaths in college and problems with the alcohol content in so-called energy drinks," he said. "The earliest warning signs are our officers. We would really appreciate you reconsidering your decision, and allowing the trained officers back into being able to help with the problems."

Moses said he would be happy to consult with Rockwood, free of charge, "because kids are that important."