The D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Program is a comprehensive drug abuse prevention education program designed to equip elementary, middle school and high school students with the appropriate skills to resist peer pressure to experiment with alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. D.A.R.E. represents a collaborative effort between the Wayland School System and the Wayland Police Department, and it is an intricate component of our communities drug prevention program. The D.A.R.E. Program utilizes law enforcement officers to teach the formal D.A.R.E. curriculum to students. In Wayland it is taught by the Police Department’s Youth Officer, Jim Forti. As D.A.R.E. Officers the instructors serve as role models for impressionable youth while providing awareness of the dangers of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.
 

In Wayland, Elementary School students are taught the D.A.R.E. K-4 program which teaches safety awareness, with strong concentration in the area of stranger awareness. At the Wayland Middle School the D.A.R.E. Curriculum is currently being blended into the Life Skills Curriculum for delivery to eighth grade Health Classes.  The focus of the curriculum is for students to recognize and resist peer-pressure; to understand media techniques used in advertising; to develop the students ability to make decisions; to teach students ways to enhance self-worth; to develop an understanding of stressors and ways to cope with stress; and to develop interpersonal and communication skills. Officer Forti co-teaches this program with Health Teacher, Alison Barone.

Officer Forti is also called upon occasionally to teach at the Wayland High School in the Sophomore Health Classes on the topic of drugs and alcohol and the laws as they pertain to that age group.  It is our goal to arm the students with the facts about alcohol, tobacco and drug use and abuse, including the consequences, so that they can make informed decisions about whether they want to engage in risky behavior. We will never truly know how many of these children we have prevented from engaging in these behaviors by having taught them these skills, but even if it is only one child, isn’t it still worth it?  Additionally, in the Fall of 2006 Officer Forti  began co-teaching a new curriculum at Wayland High School which is offered as an elective course.  The course entitled "Adolescents and  the Law" was developed in cooperation with Attorney John Scheft of Law Enforcement Dimensions to provide high school age students an opportunity to learn about the laws that they are most likely to come in contact with such as assault and battery, hazing, drug, alcohol,  and motor-vehicle laws.