It might not be a high school diploma, but close to 100 students from Theodore Roosevelt School graduated with flying colors last week. Weehawken’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) walked 88 sixth graders across the auditorium stage to receive a certificate after completing a 10-week course, which taught the kids how to stay safe from teen pressures.
DARE, now an international movement to keep kids off drugs, was first formed in Los Angeles in 1983, and came to Weehawken 10 years ago as a tool to educate students on the dangers of drugs and alcohol. Public Safety Director Jeff Welz said that over the years, the program has evolved to tackle changing issues facing teens like bullying and staying safe online.
“The delinquency rate is down significantly.” – Jeff Welz
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Welz, who has been involved in law enforcement for over 20 years, said there has been a noticeable decline in juvenile delinquency over the past 10 years, which he attributed mainly to the DARE program.
“I don’t have the statistics,” Welz said, “but being around for as long as I have, I know the delinquency rate is down significantly.”
Along with the certificate, kids received DARE t-shirts and took time after the ceremony to have all their friends sign the shirts. Welz said that out of all the kids signing shirts, the two officers that have been working the program since it began, Detective Sergio Fasciano and police officer Mike DeBari, were like “rock stars” at the signing.
“The thing that I feel good about is that, at the end of the ceremony, every kid wanted the police officers to sign their shirts,” Welz said. “The kids really bond with the officers and that is very significant. [The officers] were practically there all evening signing shirts, and now the kids have a momento of a part of their life that they can always keep.”
Skits and essay
The kids were also asked to write essays about what the DARE program meant to them, and the best three were read aloud to the children.
“It’s amazing how perceptive these kids are,” Welz said. The Weehawken Police Benevolent Association donated an iPod to the student with the winning essay. “That was the hardest part,” Welz said. “All the essays were really good.”
With the help of the officers and teachers, each class also created a skit mimicking a dangerous situation involving drugs, tobacco, and other dangers, and dramatized the best way to tackle each circumstance.
Close bonds
The program is a cooperative effort between the Board of Education and the mayor and the Township Council, the latter of which delegates the two officers to teach the students for the duration of the 10-week program.
“It’s tough in this economic climate [to lend] two officers to the program, but the dividends are huge compared to the cost of detailing the officers to the school,” Welz said.
Although he conceded some mischief happened on Halloween, he attributed the “low incidents” of juvenile crimes to “a direct correlation to the success of the program.”
In addition to the DARE program, curfews have been set up to deter kids from breaking the law, but for Welz, a strong relationship between the children and the police, which the programs fosters, is paramount.
“They appreciate that the police officers are spending time with them,” Welz said. “They see police officers in a different light, as an authority figure and their friends, like a close relative that is only there to help.”
Sean Allocca can be reached at editorial@hudsonreporter.com