Schools Lag in Offering Police Drug Instruction : Education: The officer-led DARE curriculum is costly. Many local officials say cheaper teacher-based prevention programs work well.

With the cost of a single DARE police officer estimated at between $50,000 to $75,000 a year, Ventura County officials say they are far behind Los Angeles and other areas in establishing the DARE drug education program throughout local schools.

DARE boosters bemoan the fact that they cannot put an officer in every classroom throughout the county because of budget restraints. But many school officials say they are doing just fine with teacher-based drug prevention programs that can be provided at lower cost.

Based on bringing uniformed officers into schools to present the curriculum, Drug Abuse Resistance Education teaches students decision-making skills, showing them how to resist peer pressure and providing positive alternatives to drug use.

In contrast to the high price of the DARE program, training a teacher how to use QUEST, a drug prevention program used by many schools in the county, costs between $425 and $500. And workbooks for every 35 students in a QUEST class total only an additional $115.

While school officials praise QUEST both for its low cost and effectiveness, many county law enforcement officials say they favor DARE because they think that police officers are more effective at teaching children about the dangers of drug use than regular teachers.

“We could use considerably more,” said Ventura County Sheriff John Gillespie, discussing his department’s five DARE officers, who are deputies. “We’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got.”

Ventura County has 13 DARE officers, compared to 105 drug education officers in the Los Angeles Police Department, which budgets $5.25 million annually for its DARE operations. Each of the 345 public elementary schools, 58 junior high schools and 43 high schools in Los Angeles presents DARE classes.

But in Ventura County, about 45% of the 122 public elementary schools have no DARE program. Only 15% of the 26 public junior highs have an officer-taught program, and none of the county’s 17 public high schools have a formalized program.

A DARE officer in the sheriff’s East Valley Station costs $74,446 for salary, benefits and support services, authorities said. However, one DARE officer said he teaches about 800 students a year.

The Simi Valley Police Department figures one officer costs $59,000 for salary, overtime and benefits each year. That does not include materials, which cost about $9,000 per officer in Simi Valley, authorities said.

The costs are paid by cities, community donations, police department funds and, sometimes, state grants.

The Pleasant Valley School District requested a DARE officer about three years ago, but the city of Camarillo said it didn’t have the funds for one, said Evelyn Bassett, district director of instructional programs.

The district would have had to cancel its whole drug prevention program to start a DARE program, she said, so it decided to use a series of programs including QUEST.

Others downplayed the importance of having DARE.

“DARE is an excellent program, but it’s frosting on the cake. It’s not a fundamental solution to the problems that kids are facing in California,” said Rich Morrison, coordinator of pupil and administrative services for the county superintendent of schools.

“Our whole concept and approach to comprehensive prevention programs is light years ahead of other counties,” he said.

County schools offer a variety of prevention programs that show children from kindergarten through the 12th grade not only how to deal with drugs but how to face problems such as child abuse, hate crimes, AIDS, youth suicide, eating disorders and gangs, Morrison said.

The most popular of those programs, QUEST, is offered in 97 elementary schools and 24 of 26 middle schools in the county, officials said.

However, many law enforcement authorities said they do not believe teacher-based programs are as dramatic as bringing a police officer into the classroom.

“I think the main difference is that DARE is officer-led and when you’re talking about alcohol and drug abuse, the officers seem to have more credibility with the kids,” said Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief Glenn Levant, who is on the board of directors of DARE California Inc. “Oftentimes, they’ll ask questions that teachers may be ill-prepared to respond to.”

In a recent DARE class, Ventura Police Officer Ross Nideffer used an example from his years as an undercover narcotics agent to answer one child who asked if he had been offered drugs and how he turned them down.

“I told him I was on probation,” Nideffer told the class of 24 attentive fifth-graders. “I used an excuse.”

In addition to offering war stories, officers said they are able to show children who have only seen police arresting or ticketing their parents that police can be friends.

The program was jointly developed in 1983 by Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates and the Los Angeles Unified School District. Curriculum reinforcing the lessons has since been added to the seventh and 10th grades and the DARE program has spread to schools in every state as well as many foreign countries.

Local DARE officers say the county needs such programs in upper grades as well as in elementary schools.

“We can’t expect them to turn over a new leaf and resist all pressures because of one session they’re getting from me,” said Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Kaspar, a DARE officer who teaches sixth-graders in Thousand Oaks. “The junior high and high school programs would really be beneficial.”

The Ventura Police Department is the only law enforcement agency in the county that offers a DARE program beyond grade school. In September, the department began a program called BE COOL, which stands for Become Educated to Control Our Own Lives. The program--which incorporates DARE and other drug-education philosophies--stresses abstinence from gangs and drugs, officials said.

Several agencies said they are considering expanding their programs. The Simi Valley department, which developed and runs a summer camp incorporating DARE information, would like to add junior high and high school classes, Chief Lindsey P. Miller said.

Simi Valley and Ventura have not been affected by budget constraints, authorities said. However, they said finances may be hurdles to further expansion.

“Up to this point, we’ve been OK,” Miller said. “What the future holds in the next two years I really can’t say. I think we’re going into lean times.”

Other agencies said financial constraints already are a problem.

“We will expand our DARE programs whenever we can wherever we can,” Gillespie said. “With us, it comes down to dollars more than anything else.”

The Port Hueneme Police Department does not have the manpower or the money to back any drug education programs, said Chief Robert Anderson.

An Oxnard study committee opted for a more economical solution of hiring more youth services officers to be used as resources for teachers presenting QUEST or other drug-prevention lessons, authorities said.

But the positions were never added because of budget reductions that forced 13 of Oxnard’s 155 police positions to be frozen or cut in the past two years.

While school officials concede that QUEST has made greater inroads than DARE in the county partly because it is easier to finance, they also stressed that teacher-based programs offer things that DARE does not.

Teachers can implement themes and lessons of QUEST into class lessons and discussions all day every day, officials said. In addition, they said, professional educators are the best teachers.

“I think it’s great to have outside people come in,” said Stefan Sisman, counselor at the Ocean View School District in Oxnard, which uses a teacher-based program called DECIDE, which stands for Define Explore Consider Invite Decide and Evaluate. “But our philosophy is the most expert person on kids in the classroom is the teacher.”

QUEST, which was developed by a company in Granville, Ohio, consists of 30 lessons of 45 minutes each and is designed to teach elementary-school children such things as how to respect each other and evaluate consequences in making decisions, said Norma Maidel, prevention consultant for the superintendent of schools.

Students also receive information on drugs and alcohol. Programs for junior high students are offered in nine- to 12-week sessions, Maidel said.

Since 1985, 1,100 county teachers have been trained to teach the elementary program, 500 teachers have been trained in the lessons for junior high, and 100 are trained in the high school education, which does not offer drug information, Maidel said.

But many officials believe that more drug education is needed.

“There will come a time when we can say we’re doing as much as we can, but we’re not there yet,” Oxnard’s Owens said.