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Ottawa County drug-education program could become statewide model

The DREAM Program aims to go beyond what DARE accomplished, and focus more on the individual student and engage parents to help.

OAK HARBOR, Ohio — A new drug education program that could be used across the state is being developed right here in our area.

The Ottawa County Drug Task Force came up with a new concept for a youth drug education program, and it's received approval from Gov. Mike DeWine's Recovery Ohio initiative. 

The Drug Resilience Education Awareness Mentorship or DREAM program will be aimed for all school ages, kindergarten through 12th grade, to better and more directly educate the kids about drugs and the dangers of drug use.

"A lot of the things we do are reactive, and we thought we needed to be more proactive with reaching our kids before they fall into cycles of addiction," said Matt Gandee, commander of the Ottawa County Drug Task Force.

And RC Waters Elementary school in Oak Harbor is one of the pilot locations in Ohio for the program to be developed.

Each grade level will have a specific strategy to better engage the students in their age range.

Organizers also wanted to make sure a portion of the DREAM program involved the parents of these children as well.

"It gives a piece of that puzzle for the guardians of these children, what to watch for and how to prepare your child," Ottawa County Sheriff Steve Levorchick said.

The drug task force will be working hand-in-hand with the teachers at RC Waters to continually refine the program for what works best for their students.

"I don't think you can ever start too early. I mean, kindergarten, first, second, third, these are the formative years and we want our students to have the right messages and the right information going out into the world," Benton-Carroll Salem Superintendent Guy Parmigian said.

"When these drugs are going to be more present. And giving them the tools that they need to be prepared for that when those times come and being able to say 'No' and stay away from it, we felt that was something that certainly needed to be continued to be driven home," Gandee said.

Benton-Carroll-Salem Schools and the Ottawa County Sheriff's department will be working together for the remainder of this school year and through the summer to have the K-3 Dream Program up and running for the 2022-2023 school year.

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