Washington Co., WI – Washington County Sheriff Martin Schulteis has issued a statement in light of a comment made at a recent D.A.R.E. fifth grade graduation ceremony in West Bend.
D.A.R.E. is a drug awareness program offered at about a dozen grade schools in Washington County.
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According to a description on the Sheriff’s website, “DARE is a nationally recognized program that teaches children the skills needed to recognize and resist the pressures that cause them to experiment with drugs or become involved in violent activities. In 2021, the sheriff’s office provided the DARE program to fifth grade students in 13 schools located throughout Washington County. The department currently uses two certified DARE instructors.”
During the Friday graduation event the students and families were notified the D.A.R.E class was going to be cancelled.
In a follow-up email the Sheriff responded.
“After careful consideration I have discontinued the DARE program the Sheriff’s Office provides.  I can assure you it was not an easy decision. I see tremendous value to the DARE program for the kids, schools, and our agency. We have exceptionally talented instructors that have amazingly energetic dedication to the program. We are lucky to have that caliber staff with our agency.
“This decision is not based at all on the validly or effectiveness of the DARE program, and certainly not on the instructors’ performance. It is based solely on the staffing struggles we have been experiencing in our patrol division. As our county continues to grow, so does the workload for the deputies that are working the road.  As of this email we are at 42,000 calls for service this year.   Our staffing simply has not kept up with the county growth and demand for service.  I have been put in the unfortunate position where I needed to analyze how I can reallocate resources to mitigate this increasing workload and maximizing the number of deputies assigned to patrol operations.
“The Sheriff’s Office had provided this program free of any charges to the school districts and I certainly was willing to absorb this within my budget. With my current staffing, that model is not sustainable. When this workload spikes during the week, we are a bit more prepared for this type of staffing shortage, but on the weekends, it really impacts our ability to provide emergency services to the constituents I took an oath to serve. I also have legitimate safety concerns for the deputies that are forced to cover large areas of the county without appropriate back up.”
This is not the first time the local D.A.R.E. program has been affected by staffing. In 2017, then Washington County Sheriff Dale Schmidt, put the D.A.R.E. program on “pause” because of staffing issues.
Over the years there has been a debate whether D.A.R.E. is an effective program to keep children off drugs or prevent them from trying drugs. Area law enforcement said the program is beneficial because it grows the trust, familiarity and respect between children and local police/sheriff’s deputies.
Schools impacted by the decision according to data on the Sheriff’s website include: ADDISON ELEMENTARY, HOLY ANGELS SCHOOL, ST. GABRIELS SCHOOL, ALLENTON ELEMENTARY I4 LEARNING, ST. KILIANS SCHOOL, AMY BELLE ELEMENTARY, RICHFIELD SCHOOL, ST. PETERS SCHOOL, FARMINGTON ELEMENTARY, ROCKFIELD SCHOOL, GOOD SHEPHERD SCHOOL, SLINGER ELEMENTARY.
Mary Simon is executive director at Elevate, a local non-profit organization the focuses on drug abuse, mental health, prevention, intervention and support.
“Elevate is disappointed to learn of Sheriff Schulteis’s decision to discontinue the DARE program in Washington County schools,” said Simon.  “We understand it was a difficult decision and respect his need to prioritize the services that his department can provide during these challenging economic times. The sad truth is that many of  the added burdens on his department and staff are the direct result of the opioid epidemic.
Elevate has worked in partnership with the Sheriff’s Department over the years to ensure that our youth have access to evidence-based programs that are designed to delay the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and reduce the risk for developing addiction later in life.
While we too have limited resources, we remain available to assist schools looking to fill the void left by the discontinuation of the DARE program through our Too Good For Drugs  prevention program.“
Calls have also been placed to local schools to see whether they can pick up unused resources from the Sheriff’s Department and implement their own D.A.R.E. programs.
This is a working story, and more information will be posted when details become available.
I find this quite ironic. I’ll share a basic principle That is proven to work and is used in almost all Fire Departments across the country. It is the basic premiss that education in the prevention of fires is one of the most valuable tools to reducing the amount fires. Thus considerably reducing our work load.
Simple and it works, and based on that premiss I’m sure that is why the D.A.R.E. program has been around so long.
That said, with all the other garbage our school systems are teaching why isn’t this on their agenda?
Mabye it’s time the schools start prioritizing things that are truly educational, and will benefit every student their family’s and our community’s.