HUNTINGTON BEACH : Parents Protest Loss of DARE Program

Parents and private school officials charged this week that children are being shortchanged by a decision to suspend Drug Abuse Resistance Education programs in private and parochial schools this year.

Police Chief Ronald E. Lowenberg, whose officers teach the courses, said the decision to eliminate private schools was based on a manpower shortage, caused by the need to teach additional DARE classes in the Ocean View School District.

But Jean Rustemeyer, president of St. Bonaventure Parent Faculty Assn., said that children in private schools are being treated unfairly.

“The need is just as great for private-school children,” she said as she pressed the City Council on Monday to hire another officer and resume the regular 17-week class of instruction in the second semester.

Art Blietz, principal at Huntington Christian School, also lamented the loss of the DARE program this year at his school.

“A great percentage of our parents live in city boundaries. I think it’s a shame. They pay taxes just like everyone else. It’s sad to be pushed aside. It’s the kids that suffer.”

Blietz said the DARE program, with its anti-drug message and an emphasis on building the self-esteem of children so they can more easily resist drugs and gangs, was introduced at his school last year.

School officials had been hoping to lay a foundation for this year, but instead “find the school out in limbo,” he said.

Lowenberg said meetings would continue with private school leaders, holding out the possibility that classes might resume next semester.

City officials said they hope the Police Department will find a way to restore the classes. “We’ll pay now or much, much more later,” Councilwoman Linda Moulton-Patterson said.

The program has also been suspended at Saints Simon & Jude School and Carden Conservatory Elementary School. Grace Lutheran School, where DARE was scheduled to begin this year, also will not receive the courses.