DD is in fifth grade, and we are going to have to deal with the much dreaded DARE program this year. I've written a letter to the principal and will probably send it on Monday. I'd appreciate any feedback:
Our daughter, name, is in Fifth Grade this year, the year that the school district exposes children to the D.A.R.E program.
Regulations promulgated under a provision of The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, (20 USC 1232h, 34 CFR 98), provide that (where federal money is involved, and much is given to D.A.R.E.), "no student shall be required...to submit without prior consent to psychiatric...treatment." "Psychiatric treatment" is defined as:
"an activity involving the planned, systematic use of methods or techniques that are not directly related to academic instruction and that is designed to affect behavioral, emotional, or attitudinal characteristics of an individual or group."
D.A.R.E. falls squarely within that definition, in that it is expressly aimed at affecting behaviors, emotions, and attitudes of minors.
Please be aware that under no circumstances do we give permission for DD to attend the D.A.R.E program, or to attend marketing assemblies designed to sell the program to the children.
Frankly, we are astonished that the district participates in the D.A.R.E. program. D.A.R.E. has been shown in a multitude of studies to at best have no effect whatsoever on drug use, and at worst, to actually increase rates of drug use, particularly among suburban children. See, for example, the enclosed peer-reviewed scholarly article entitled, “Assessing the Effects of School-Based Drug Education: A Six-Year Multilevel Analysis of Project D.A.R.E.,” published in The Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency.
In addition to being totally ineffective, the program has a significant opportunity cost associated with it. It wastes a great deal of contact time, when children could be focusing on academics. Police officers, although they might enjoy the time away from the demands of their real jobs, could actually be doing something to keep the community safer.
There are many drug awareness programs which are less expensive and less time consuming than D.A.R.E. These are taught by regular classroom teachers, trained educational professionals who must go through our state's strict credentialing process. If we believe that teachers should meet high academic standards in order to be effective educators, aren’t they the best people to be teaching our children?
By no means are we denigrating the work done by police officers. We believe that they have very difficult work to do, and largely do an excellent job. We would never suggest, though, that teachers should undertake a two week training course and then be sent out to solve crimes. Similarly, it makes little sense to take a police officer, give him or her 80 hours of training and expect teaching excellence to be the result.
Our school district justifiably prides itself on using evidence-based pedagogical approaches. If the school were using a mathematics curriculum that had been demonstrated time and time again to make no difference whatsoever on the children’s ability to do math, and could actually be detrimental, we doubt that the school would continue to support that curriculum. Should drug awareness really be any different?
Finally, we expect that the school will take any necessary steps to ensure that DD is not subject to harassment or ridicule from other students, teachers, staff or D.A.R.E. personnel because we are exercising our parental rights in keeping her out of the program.
Comments?
Our daughter, name, is in Fifth Grade this year, the year that the school district exposes children to the D.A.R.E program.
Regulations promulgated under a provision of The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, (20 USC 1232h, 34 CFR 98), provide that (where federal money is involved, and much is given to D.A.R.E.), "no student shall be required...to submit without prior consent to psychiatric...treatment." "Psychiatric treatment" is defined as:
"an activity involving the planned, systematic use of methods or techniques that are not directly related to academic instruction and that is designed to affect behavioral, emotional, or attitudinal characteristics of an individual or group."
D.A.R.E. falls squarely within that definition, in that it is expressly aimed at affecting behaviors, emotions, and attitudes of minors.
Please be aware that under no circumstances do we give permission for DD to attend the D.A.R.E program, or to attend marketing assemblies designed to sell the program to the children.
Frankly, we are astonished that the district participates in the D.A.R.E. program. D.A.R.E. has been shown in a multitude of studies to at best have no effect whatsoever on drug use, and at worst, to actually increase rates of drug use, particularly among suburban children. See, for example, the enclosed peer-reviewed scholarly article entitled, “Assessing the Effects of School-Based Drug Education: A Six-Year Multilevel Analysis of Project D.A.R.E.,” published in The Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency.
In addition to being totally ineffective, the program has a significant opportunity cost associated with it. It wastes a great deal of contact time, when children could be focusing on academics. Police officers, although they might enjoy the time away from the demands of their real jobs, could actually be doing something to keep the community safer.
There are many drug awareness programs which are less expensive and less time consuming than D.A.R.E. These are taught by regular classroom teachers, trained educational professionals who must go through our state's strict credentialing process. If we believe that teachers should meet high academic standards in order to be effective educators, aren’t they the best people to be teaching our children?
By no means are we denigrating the work done by police officers. We believe that they have very difficult work to do, and largely do an excellent job. We would never suggest, though, that teachers should undertake a two week training course and then be sent out to solve crimes. Similarly, it makes little sense to take a police officer, give him or her 80 hours of training and expect teaching excellence to be the result.
Our school district justifiably prides itself on using evidence-based pedagogical approaches. If the school were using a mathematics curriculum that had been demonstrated time and time again to make no difference whatsoever on the children’s ability to do math, and could actually be detrimental, we doubt that the school would continue to support that curriculum. Should drug awareness really be any different?
Finally, we expect that the school will take any necessary steps to ensure that DD is not subject to harassment or ridicule from other students, teachers, staff or D.A.R.E. personnel because we are exercising our parental rights in keeping her out of the program.
Comments?
: I think your letter is VERY well-written, if a bit long, and I hope it's not ignored.
