DARE Grads Evoke Support

As video cameras rolled and flashes popped, scores of Thousand Oaks sixth-graders completed the DARE anti-drug curriculum on Friday in a celebration that prompted solemn reflection on the need to save educational programs from the budget ax.

Councilman Frank Schillo attended a ceremony at St. Paschal’s Baylon School to underscore the city’s commitment to DARE, which teaches children at 18 public and six private schools in Thousand Oaks to say no to drugs and gangs.

Applauding as 38 sixth-graders dressed in black DARE T-shirts received their certificates and dashed off to gobble cookies, Schillo promised that the city would support the program, even in a year of fiscal belt-tightening.

“Even though you can’t directly prove that DARE is a factor in our low crime rate, I believe it is extremely important,” Schillo said.

Although Schillo vowed never to slash DARE money in Thousand Oaks, other cities across the county have put the popular, 7-year-old outreach program on the chopping block.

Ventura’s austerity budget proposes stripping DARE of three-quarters of its funding. And west county cities served by the Sheriff’s Department may find their DARE programs eliminated entirely if a proposed 10% budget cut goes through, Sheriff Larry Carpenter said this week.

In the east county, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Moorpark and Oak Park support DARE with their own general fund or school district dollars, so city rather than county budgets will determine the program’s fate. Thousand Oaks last year spent $183,000 to pay the salaries and expenses for two DARE officers.

At Friday’s hourlong ceremony in St. Paschal’s, during which several students read aloud their pledges to avoid drugs, parents and children alike promised to fight hard for the program. The eighth-grade class even presented a $100 check from its graduation fund to support DARE, which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education.

“I’d be very, very upset if DARE got cut,” said parent Rose Mansen. Her son, Brian, came home from his bimonthly DARE lessons eager to share his new knowledge about gangs, drugs and peer pressure, Mansen said.

“Every little bit helps our kids, and this is not just a little bit--it’s very important,” she said.

After two years of traipsing from school to school, directing role-play skits and showing movies about drunk driving, Deputy Lee Morris said he had grown so attached to the DARE program, “it would take a foot with a very, very big shoe to boot me out.”

Morris’ students at St. Paschal’s heaped praise on the deputy and the DARE curriculum, proudly recounting how they had used tips from the lessons to turn down beer and persuade friends to stay out of gangs.

“In DARE, I have learned that when you use drugs, your future crumbles before you,” said Kristina Tuck, reading from her award-winning essay.

Morris urged the students to save their essays, which include their vows to stay drug-free, and reread them with their parents before the start of each school year.

“We’re giving them the tools to help them make the right decision,” Morris told the parents. “I hope in their futures there won’t be any hem-haws or any wondering what the right choice should be.”