August 17, 1989 — Fifth grade students in the Page County School System will be greeted this fall by a new and special teacher. The teacher’s name is Ellen Phillips, and she will serve as a DARE officer, through a joint effort of the Page County School System and the Sheriff’s Department.
DARE is an acronym for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. This is the first time the DARE program has been taught in the county’s school system. Currently, sixth and seventh grade elementary students are involved in the Quest program.
“This is one of the most outstanding programs I have ever been involved with,”Mrs. Phillips said Monday. “The program is not about what drugs are. It is about educating children to resist drugs. It teaches them that they have self-worth and kids grow up knowing they are worth something and someone cares.”
The program was introduced in Virginia in 1986. Since that time, 115 of the 134 school divisions have adopted the program, according to State Trooper Kenny Hyden of the Staunton division, who gave a presentation on the program at Stanley Elementary School.
~ From the public archives of the Page News and Courier
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