NORTH PLATTE, Neb.-One of the highlights of the school year for North Platte fifth-graders is D.A.R.E. Day, their graduation from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program.
Unfortunately, this is another milestone that students will not get to experience this year due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus.
The North Platte Police Department said the day of celebration was scheduled to take place on May 1, but is being canceled to help prevent the spread of the virus.
According to their website, D.A.R.E. was founded in 1983 and has proven so successful that it has been implemented in thousands of schools throughout the United States and 50+ other countries.
The organization says D.A.R.E. is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug and violence-free lives.
The North Platte Police Department has been operating the D.A.R.E. program in North Platte Schools since 1990.