D.A.R.E. program returns to Oneonta schools

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February 10, 2012

By Jake Palmateer Staff Writer The Daily Star Fri Feb 10, 2012, 02:30 AM EST

ONEONTA _ The city's D.A.R.E. program has been reborn.

Beginning Thursday, Det. Jennifer Torres will be teaching Oneonta City School District sixth graders about the effects of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and other drugs.

She will also be discussing how the use of these substances is sometimes glamorized in popular culture.

"The schools are all excited about having the program back," Torres said Tuesday.

When the Oneonta Police Department was faced with a personnel crunch in late 2009, then-Chief Joseph Redmond opted not to fill the school resource officer position vacated by the retirement of officer Steve Havens.

Havens also taught the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program at the district's four elementary schools.

OPD, which had several resignations and retirements in late 2009 and early 2010, needed to ensure it had enough officers on patrol, Redmond said at the time.

But Chief Gary O'Neill, who has led OPD on an interim basis since shortly after Redmond resigned last year, said the department has the personnel to allow the resumption of the D.A.R.E. program _ at least for now.

"It's nice to have an officer in the schools," O'Neill said. "It's a big boost for the schools and us."

To learn how to teach the program, Torres attended a D.A.R.E. school in Bergen County, New Jersey, in December.

"She is a good fit to be the D.A.R.E. officer," O'Neill said. "She is very conscientious and does her job well."

OPD still has materials to teach the course, including workbooks and T-shirts, left over from 2009, and this has helped make it possible to jump right back into offering D.A.R.E., according to Torres.

Torres said teaching the program to sixth graders is important considering their age and grade level.

The sixth graders graduate from elementary school in June and will head off to Oneonta Middle School _ which adjoins Oneonta High School _ when school starts in the fall.

"I think it's the perfect age," she said.

When the students start seventh grade, they will be exposed to older students in a different environment, she said.

O'Neill agreed.

"The goal here is to give them some tools to be able to understand what can happen," O'Neill said. "I'm not going to say Oneonta (City School District) has a drug problem."

But, like any community, drugs and alcohol are around, he said.

Torres will be teaching the program every Thursday at all four elementary schools for the next nine weeks.

O'Neill said Lt. Dennis Nayor, when he becomes police chief in May, will likely evaluate the D.A.R.E. program to see if OPD will be able to continue during the next school year. Mayor Dick Miller indicated the department will be down several officers later this year for various reasons.

"It's something we are taking a chance on to see how it goes," O'Neill said.

There are no plans to fill the school resource officer position, according to the chief.