For the first time ever, the 2020 Fall semester of the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program launched an online version of its elementary school curriculum.   This allows students to log on to the D.A.R.E. website from their Chromebook.   Through an electronic workbook, students can follow along with the presenting DARE Officer.   Brentwood Police Officer and D.A.R.E. instructor for Williamson County Schools in Brentwood, Sam Bady, said “this is allowing us to continue our teaching and allow students to complete work that is not finished during normal allotted class time.”

The City of Brentwood Police Department purchased the electronic workbooks for all elementary DARE classes in Brentwood this fall semester, for both in-school students, as well as those who are distance/ online learners. Officer Bady explained, “each student has been assigned a login name and password and can now access their e-workbooks anytime.  In the past, the paper workbooks had to be passed out at the beginning of each DARE class and then taken up when the class ended,” Officer Bady said.  With the new format, students can login to their D.A.R.E. dashboard and complete work anytime or journal about what they learned in the days lesson.   “It could also help to create a healthy conversation about the dangers of drug use with parents at home,” Officer Bady said.

D.A.R.E. was founded in 1983 and has proven so successful that it has been implemented in thousands of schools throughout the United States and 50+ other countries.   D.A.R.E. is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug and violence-free lives.   D.A.R.E. plans to launch the Middle School version later this year.