Sergeant Kevin Hingiss is our D.A.R.E. officer. D.A.R.E. teaches our children that popularity can be found in positive behavior, that belonging need not require them to abandon their values, and that self confidence and self worth come from asserting themselves and resisting temptations. D.A.R.E. not only teaches them to refuse drugs and alcohol, but also gives them the tools and education they need to build a better, fuller, and more satisfying life. D.A.R.E. sends a trained, uniformed Police Officer into the fifth grade class every week for seventeen weeks to teach students how to refuse drugs and alcohol, as well as tobacco products and violence. The program follows a carefully structured curriculum, focusing on topics such as violence prevention, drug use and misuse, consequences of behavior, resisting peer pressure, building self-esteem, assertiveness training, managing stress, media images of drug use, role models, and support systems.
Students also use workbooks and engage in role playing during the classes.
All students receive a D.A.R.E. certificate, a T-shirt courtesy of Saint Mary's Hospital Ozaukee, and are recognized at a culmination graduation. The graduation includes an awards ceremony followed by a graduation picnic and an outing to a Milwaukee Brewer baseball game. The 5th grade core program content is organized into seventeen 45-60 minute lessons taught by a certified D.A.R.E. Instructor. The lessons offer a variety of interactive, role playing, and cooperative learning activities which are designed to encourage students to solve problems of major importance in their lives. Students will be introduced to the D.A.R.E. Officer and will become acquainted with the D.A.R.E. Rules, D.A.R.E. Box and their responsibilities as D.A.R.E. Students.