Parents, students in favor of reinstating drivers ed in Dale County

ARITON - Some 16-year-olds might be among the anxious mass of spring break drivers headed through the Wiregrass to the Florida beaches this week.
But Ariton High School sophomore Jasmine Bell is an exception. She is one of about 200 Dale County high school students of legal driving age who has yet to pay to take a drivers course at Carroll High School in Ozark this summer. She might be one of few who refuses to get behind a wheel before she gets the training.
Her school system in Dale County is one of only 14 in the state that does not offer the driving course to its students, according to the state Department of Education.
Jasmine said the course at Carroll costs at least $100.
“I’m not prepared to get behind the wheel. Knowing a car is behind me on the highway freaks me out. But I wish at least I wouldn’t have to pay all that money to another school system to learn how to drive,” Jasmine said.
Dale County Superintendent Phillip Parker said the program was dismantled from the county schools in 2002 because of the system’s poor financial condition. His proposal to reinstate the course as an elective for next school year lacked enough school board votes last week to pass.
No state Department of Education funds are allotted for drivers education programs, but Parker said the system could pull $55,000 for two retired educators to teach - plus the cost of a vehicle - from its $3.4 million general fund.
Board member Don Williams, who abstained from voting for or against the program last week, said the school system should examine the pending impact of pro-ration before adding any more electives to its curriculum.
Board member Bill McSween agreed. He said the school system’s general fund money might be needed in the future to sustain programs already in place.
“I’m clear on the fact I fully support a drivers education program in our schools. I understand we have money in our general fund, but there’s no telling what pro-ration could do to that,” McSween said.
Parker said it was “likely” he would make the recommendation again at the April 8 board meeting but that he proposed reinstating the program last week because schools were preparing schedules for next year.
But a time crunch is not just on for administrators: Kay Robertson, a G.W. Long Elementary School teacher whose son is expected to take the course at CHS this summer, said not having the program in the county schools puts time constraints on families.
“We live about 15 miles away from Ozark and he’ll have to be there (at CHS) early in the morning, so I’ll have to drop him off and then stay there until around noon when he gets out because gas is so high,” she said.
“You also have to remember you only have about eight weeks of summer. He wants to go to camp and football practice and I don’t know how we’ll work it out, but we’re going to have to if we want the credit from our insurance company for him taking the course.”
Jaquita Childree, whose 15-year-old grandson attends G.W. Long High School, said she was willing to donate money to the schools if it meant her grandson could get the drivers education at his own school.
“We’ve got to do something within the county to teach these kids the rules of the road,” she said.

School systems in Alabama that do not have drivers education programs
Anniston City
Calhoun County
Cherokee County
Coffee County
Covington County
Dale County
Jacksonville City
Lanett City
Lowndes County
Pickens County
Pike County
Tallassee City
Tuscaloosa City
Tuscaloosa County
Source: Alabama State Department of Education