The Butler County sheriff’s office is on track to graduate 963 elementary school students from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, better known as D.A.R.E, by the end of the school year.

The 10-class, 10-week course is taught in 15 public and private schools in Butler County, up from two schools in 1993, its first year here. D.A.R.E. was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles.

The D.A.R.E. curriculum will be offered to 880 fifth-graders and 83 sixth-graders in Butler County during the 2010-11 school year. About half have graduated already.

“The curriculum is meant to teach good decision-making skills,” Harry Callithen, deputy sheriff, said.

Callithen, along with Lt. Brian Karenbauer and Deputy Sheriff Darah Branchen are trained to teach children a four-step decision-making process.

“Students are taught to define, assess, respond and evaluate a problem, a challenge or an opportunity,” Callithen said.

A multi-pronged approach gives children class time to consider the choices they have about using tobacco, alcohol and other drugs.

• They hear about the health effects of tobacco and other drugs.

• They break up into small groups to practice decision-making.

• They discuss advertising that promotes cigarettes and alcohol.

• They role-play situations they might encounter.

“We’ve moved from lecturing to small group work,” James McGivney, D.A.R.E. America Regional Director, based in Dunfries, Va., said.

The D.A.R.E. curriculum changes as research offers new information about how children learn, McGivney said.

“We treat our curriculum as a living, breathing thing,” he said.

In the late 1980s, D.A.R.E. came under fire when a study showed that children who took the course in fifth grade were as likely as other children to experiment with drugs in high school, he said.

It wasn’t a fair assessment, McGivney said.

“Children need to hear anti-drug messages early and often,” he said.

The D.A.R.E. program is designed for fifth grade, seventh grade and high school students and for their parents.

“The community chooses which programs it will offer,” McGivney said. “Choices are resource-driven like everything else these days.”

In Butler County, the program focuses on fifth grade students.

Funding comes from the sheriff’s office, school districts, parent teacher organizations and the Butler County drug and alcohol program.

“We fully support (D.A.R.E.’s) operation, its principles, the work the sheriff’s office is doing,” Donna Jenereski, director of the county’s drug and alcohol program, said.

Jenereski was forced to find new funding for D.A.R.E. when state drug education funds for the program were eliminated.

This year, the county’s drug and alcohol program contributed $6,790 to buy each D.A.R.E. graduate a T-shirt to serve as a reminder of the curriculum.

With its current level of funding, the sheriff’s officers are kept busy at the schools they serve now, Callithen said.

The officers teach in Karns City, Mars, Slippery Rock and South Butler school districts and at Butler Catholic, First Baptist Christian School, Penn Christian Academy, Holy Sepulcher School, St. Wendelin School, St. Luke Lutheran School and St. Kilian Parish School.

“It’s all part of their job,” Mike Slupe, sheriff, said. “Opening the lines of communication between parents and their children — how do you put a price on that?”