Clarkstown school officials are considering scaling back DARE, the district's fifth-grade drug awareness program, to make room for a new anti-bullying program.

District health coordinator Sal Chiariello has proposed shortening the 17-week DARE program to 12 weeks, with the remaining time to be dedicated to the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. The district also is shifting a human sexuality unit from its health curriculum to its science curriculum to free up four more weeks for the program.

"Up until now, I have not been able to implement (an anti-bullying) program that would be comprehensive and sequential," Chiariello said. "We're trying to address it comprehensively, K through five.

Chiariello's proposal, presented at a PTA council meeting earlier this week, drew criticism from Detective Sgt. Tim O'Neill, the DARE coordinator for Clarkstown police. Running the program for 17 weeks, he said, "is what's worked."

"As they say, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it,'" he said. DARE includes a bullying component and also keeps an important police presence in elementary schools, he said.

District officials said there were other ways to maintain a police presence in schools, but O'Neill said that was something the police department had yet to consider because police had just learned about Chiariello's proposal.

Chiariello said the district was dissatisfied with recent PRIDE survey results, which indicated 19 percent of Clarkstown fifth-graders had been "threatened or hurt" by a student at least once in school.

The Olweus program, he said, trains teachers to develop programs leading to a bully-proof environment. Like DARE, the program would include weekly lessons for students, but those would be led by classroom teachers.

New City and Link elementary teachers soon will start Olweus training. The district plans to run the Olweus program in the two schools next school year. Other schools would follow in subsequent years. The $10,000 training program is funded by a federal grant acquired by the Clarkstown Community Task Force.

Shortening DARE requires a decision by the Board of Education. Schools Superintendent William B. Heebink said he was unsure when the board would act on the proposal.

Nereida Hernandez, who has two children at West Nyack Elementary School, said she was in favor of a new bullying program, even if it meant taking time away from DARE.

The DARE program sparked controversy in 2000 when Clarkstown police announced they would scrap the program to concentrate more on violence prevention in high schools. After a public outcry supporting DARE, the department reversed its decision and instead cut the number of full-time DARE officers from five to two.

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