MIA: Driver's Ed at CHS

Kristen Mitchell, Co-Editor-in-Chief

Many students may be wondering what happened to driver’s education and if there is a chance that it will come back to CHS.

At the beginning of 2nd semester all Driver’s Ed classes were cancelled due to budget cuts. This cut saved the school system about $25,000 to accomodate other programs throughout the school.

What about the expensive driving simulators that were placed when the school was built? Who is going to use them? Dr. Martin is looking for someone to buy the simulators.

The problem with selling them is they are very expensive and the software to annually update the simulator’s costs $5000 to $6000.

“Selling these simulators is easier said than done,” says Dr. Michael Martin.
One problem with removing these classes was where to put the six teachers that taught these classes. Most of these teachers are coaches of sports teams, and some are tenured, so the school system found an alternative place to put them.
They had to make sure that they were certified in the area they were placed before they could teach the classes.

Where do you go to take Driver’s Ed now that it isn’t offered at school? Students will have to go to independent contractors or the Upper Cumberland Human Resource Agency to take classes for an insurance reduction. This is transferring the costs of these classes to the parents instead of the school paying for the classes.

Copyright 2003 Cookeville High School