Last December the Washington Co. Sheriff made the difficult decision to suspend the Sheriff’s Office D.A.R.E. instruction program for schools that normally had it scheduled for the spring 2016 semester.
The Sheriff recently made contact with the school districts the department previously provided D.A.R.E. instruction for, and advised them the Sheriffs’ Office will once again offer D.A.R.E. to all the schools we had been instructing for in the past.
This would be available at the beginning of the fall 2016 semester.
The DARE program was suspended last year due to a staffing shortage in the Deputy position and in the number of DARE instructors in the department.
The overall staffing situation has improved, and the Sheriff believes he can safely commit the necessary resources to provide a healthy program.
The Sheriff’s Office has now assigned a full-time deputy to the Community Relations/DARE Coordinator position. Additionally, there has been strong support from the County Board to reinstitute the program.
These are positive signs that the Sheriff’s Office can quickly get back to providing a quality prevention program for our area 5th graders.
The Sheriffs’ Office has been in contact with each of the principals to confirm whether or not they want to continue with DARE in their schools.
The Sheriff is also aware that Elevate has offered and is instructing “Too Good for Drugs” in some schools. We have no interest in this becoming a contest of programs.
The decision is up to school boards and administrations to decide what the right program is for the students.
The Sheriff’s Office is simply just making the D.A.R.E. program available, and we would be pleased to provide it if requested.