Not your parent's DARE program: Etowah schools students learn more than 'Just Say No'

Fifth-graders from the Etowah County school system got a day away from the classroom as the culmination of the first stage of the DARE program.

About 125 fifth-graders from Etowah County schools participated in DARE Camp, at the Church of the Highlands campus, on April 26. Their were games indoors and outside, lunch and discussions about what the county's School Resource Officers have been teaching students throughout the 10-week course.

The Drug Awareness Resistance Education program was initiated in 1983 — a federally funded program born out of first lady Nancy Reagan's Just Say No campaign against substance abuse.

"It's a lot different than 'just saying no' now," Lt. Justin Plunkett, supervisor of the Etowah County Sheriff's office SRO program. said.

The program has evolved over the years, Plunkett said, and continues to; he will go to Mississippi in the coming months to get updates to the program.

DARE was a part of schools in the area for years, but in the past decade, some schools and their law enforcement partners brought other such programs into their curriculums to address substance abuse, decision-making and character education.

Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon Horton reinstated DARE, working with the school system to have SROs bring its lessons back into the classroom.

Students are introduced to DARE in fifth grade, and the curriculum continues with seventh-graders.

The inaugural DARE Camp was organized for students last year; the good response led Horton to expand the program this year.

The sheriff welcomed students and gave them an idea of what the day held for them: a rock wall challenge, impaired vision course, armored vehicle ride, mock crime scenes, a traffic homicide investigation scene, drone and Throwbot demonstrations, an Internet Crimes Against Children safety class and an Alabama Department of Conservation digital safety event.

Each activity was designed to further the education of students about the dangers of drugs and the necessity of making safe and responsible decisions, Horton said.

“It is important to use all the resources possible to equip students with good decision-making skills that they may be as successful as possible in life," he said.

Plunkett said issues such as vaping, opioid addiction, bullying and suicide awareness are all touched in the current DARE curriculum.

Having the program taught by SROs who are in the schools furthers the building of bridges between the community, students and law enforcement, he said.

DARE lessons include providing children with a scenario and life choices to make, and follow up with discussions of those choice.

Plunkett said the SROs like to pair students up to talk about possible choices — the kind of choices they might sometimes face alone at a keyboard.

Students have opportunities to ask questions, even using a DARE box for confidentiality. In one local municipality, Plunkett said, a student provided information through the DARE box about a suspect sought by police, leading to an arrest.

Plunkett said there have been cases of abuse discovered through the DARE box as well.

Those are not topics the 1983 version of DARE was designed to tackle.

"We want to have the proper tools to help students," Plunkett said, in their decision-making and in dealing with peer pressure.

"We want to help students look at the choices they make," he said, through the lens of DARE's evolving lessons.

Contact Gadsden Times reporter Donna Thornton at 256-393-3284 or donna.thornton@gadsdentimes.com.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Etowah schools' DARE program offers evolving lessons for changing times