McDonald enjoys teaching students

By Timberly Ferree, staff writer

By Timberly Ferree
TEACHING: Linton Patrol Officer Debbie McDonald teaches Linton-Stockton fifth graders a lesson from the DARE (Drug Awareness Resistance Education) program. McDonald visits each fifth-grade class once weekly in an effort to promote positive choices to the students. This is the first time that DARE program has been implemented at the school.

Although Linton Police Officer Debbie McDonald has just started teaching the DARE (Drug Awareness Resistance Education) program at Linton-Stockton Elementary School, she is already loving it.

“I absolutely love it ... we have so much fun” she stressed.

McDonald - who has been with the LPD since September 2003 - has wanted to implement this program since her early days on the department.

“I have been begging to do this since about a week after I started,” she explained.

She is teaching the program to fifth-graders at the school.

During class, McDonald is full of energy and has complete command of her students.

She visits the school twice weekly and provides educational tools to four fifth-grade classrooms.

The program mandates that it begin in fifth or sixth grade, she explained.

“We decided to start as early as possible with the fifth grade,” she added.

DARE is about making choices, she explained. It uses different scenarios that include friendships, drugs, bullying and choices, she explained.

“The program makes the kids think about their choices,” she added. “Hopefully they will learn to make good choices.”

The program implements a colorful activity book that McDonald uses as a base for discussing life's various choices.

“I want them to be aware that doing drugs isn't cool,” she added. “I hope that it makes them stop and think before they do something,” she stressed.

This program is both educational and fun, she said.

“They're having a ball,” she added. “They're having fun and learning together.”

Each weekly lesson stair steps off of the previous lesson, she noted.

McDonald will hold an informative parent meeting in December.

The meeting will allow parents to understand more about the DARE program, she said. The exact date is yet to be announced.