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After an absence of several years, Cherokee County students are once again attending an anti-drug program in the classroom.
This school year, fifth-graders are taking the Drug Awareness Resistance Education – better known as DARE – program. Cherokee County Schools attempted to bring the program back in 2020, but was unable to due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is the first year that we’ve been able to launch the program, I would say, in at least 10 years,” said School Resource Officer Helen Malinowski, the local district’s DARE officer.
Malinowski said the program had changed considerably in the last few years, focusing primarily on problem solving and teaching students how to resist drugs.
“We focus obviously on teaching kids the resistance strategies,” Malinowski said.
“We mostly teach kids to avoid being put in situations that could harm them, but even if they are in that situation, how to get out of it. It’s a lot of problem solving, a lot of decision making aspects. It’s really what this program is more focused on.”
She said she did not introduce students to any street names or other knowledge about individual drugs.
“We have one section where we discuss alcohol and tobacco, but outside of that we don’t talk about ecstasy or anything like that,” Malinowski said.
However, she said she would answer questions if students had them.
“We don’t go into that,” Malinowski said. “It’s really problem solving and making smart decisions.”
This semester, the program was taught at Murphy Elementary School, Martins Creek Elementary/Middle School and Peachtree Elementary School. In the spring, Malinowski will teach at Ranger Elementary/Middle School, Hiwassee Dam Elementary/Middle School and Andrews Elementary School.
Fall semester students have completed the program and will graduate in December. Eventually, Malinowski hopes to bring the program to middle schools as well.
Students in the DARE program this semester recently completed a food drive, collecting more than 1,700 items for area food banks. The most items were collected by her class at Peachtree Elementary School.
“They collected over 658 items on their own in one month,” Malinowski said.
Malinowski lauded the community for its support of the program. She welcomes additional support from local businesses and organizations.