The return of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program in 2010 is still being debated, and if it does return, eighthgraders may be its new focus.

A group of school and city officials got together to discuss the future of the program at a meeting last week.

City Manager Mike Sedell and Chief of Police Mike Lewis met with Councilmember Michelle Foster and Councilmember Glen Becerra as well as Simi Valley Unified school officials Superintendent Kathryn Scroggin and school board members Janice DiFatta and Debbie SandlaFounded in 1983, DARE is an officer-led series of classroom lessons.It's touted as a program that gives kids the skills the

need to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs and violence. Some feedback, however, claims that kids have been introduced to drugs by learning about them through the program.

DARE is not being offered this school year or the next because budget issues forced the city to stop funding it.

The group discussed a new program DARE has introduced, which focuses on eighth-grade students. Officers address the class during 10-week modules. Because of the decreased time commitments, they could visit three middle schools a year, saving money overall.

"They are rolling this new, more contemporary program out," Lewis said. "They've been experimenting with it for a year and have really gotten some positive returns on it.

"This could be the answer to us suspending the program for some time and then being able to catch up some of the students who missed it in fifth grade when they get into eighth," he added.

Scroggin said there could be some problems bringing DARE to the eighth grade.

"Eighth-grade scheduling is very, very impacted," she said. "One obstacle would be where instruction for DARE would go."

Because students take different electives, the DARE classes would need to be taught during a core academic class. It was agreed that it would probably be best in the science unit, but health already encroaches on that time.

A couple of other programs are already part of the middle school curriculum, including Project Alert, a drug abuse prevention program, and an anti-bullying unit.

"My big concern is getting this message to the kids," Foster said. "It seems that with this new curriculum (in eighth grade), that would be a lot of resources going into one grade level. Why not spread it out a little?"

DiFatta agreed.

"I'd like to see the research and understand why the shift to eighth grade," DiFatta said. "I don't think there's that big of a problem with kids being exposed to drugs (because of DARE). I think sixth-graders today are certainly more mature than they were when DARE started."

Scroggin said that because they aren't looking at bringing back DARE until the 2010-11 school year, there was time to look deeper into the possible shift to eighth grade.

Sedell said the council was concerned about the possibility of bringing the program back in the 2010-11 year because of funding availability. He reminded the group that Simi Valley Unified was the only district still administering the DARE program in Ventura County.

"A 'no alternative' is still an alternative," said Sedell, reminding the group that they could decide not to reinstate the program at all. "We need to open our eyes and look at different ways of doing business."