Drivers’ Ed: For Some It’s A Long And Winding Road

By Nancy K. Crevier

With 398 juniors and 427 sophomores enrolled at Newtown High School, there are hundreds of students at any given time looking to procure that “Declaration of Independence” of youth — the driver’s license.

As soon as they turn 16, teenagers are eligible to apply for a learner’s permit, the first step on that road to freedom. The next step frequently involves driver’s education, a step that can be time consuming, frustrating, and expensive.

If a family prefers to handle driver’s education on its own, the permit must be held for an additional 60 days (180 days vs 120 days when enrolled in a certified driving program) before applying for a driver’s license.

Garry and Jennifer Ober have taken that route with two of their three girls. Bethany, now a student at UConn, and Mary, a high school junior, had a hard time finding the right driver’s education course to fit their hectic lives.

Mr Ober says, “It was hard to get into a class and fairly expensive. Mostly, it was just more convenient for us. Even if they had the best driver’s ed course, I’d still want to drive with them — especially around here.”

The only disadvantage to teaching your own children, he thinks, is that your own children may be more willing to listen to someone else, and getting them to read the manual is probably easier in a driver’s course.

But for many Newtown parents, a certificate from a driving school means a substantially reduced insurance rate once their child is licensed. That is reason enough to seek a certified driver’s education class. Equally important, not every parent has the time (or courage) to teach their teenager the ins and outs of driving.

Enrolling an eager 16-year-old in driver’s education can be a quest, if you live in Newtown. It’s a live-and-learn situation with students and parents relying on others’ experiences and recommendations when selecting a driving school. Numerous phone calls are made, and checks ranging from $300 to $600 are written out to schools that are, on average, at least ten miles from Newtown. Classes generally meet for two hours; that’s a lot of driving for parents — about 40 miles — per class. Multiply that times the 15–20 classes students must attend, and it is a real commitment. There is only one option close to home.

Bill Hines offers driver’s education four to five times a year at Newtown High School. Students who want to get in on driver’s education listen attentively for the morning and afternoon announcements during school, knowing that the class will fill up in less than a week. The classes are limited to 30 students at a time, and are offered only in the evenings. Every session sees several disappointed teenagers turned away from the program.

Alex and Zoë Velush-Rogers, daughters of Joan Velush and Craig Rogers of Sandy Hook, were two of the lucky ones who were able to enroll in the high school course when the time came for them to take driver’s education. Alex, who graduated in 2004, and Zoë, a junior this year, both liked the convenience that taking the course at the high school offered. The course was much less money than other driving schools the girls looked into, and says Joan Velush, “They made it [the course] their priority, so the nights it met didn’t matter.”

For teenagers who hold evening jobs or are involved in athletics or other extracurricular activities, the high school course is not an option. This means looking outside of the community for driver’s training. Where do they go?

The Western Connecticut Driving Institute in Brookfield is one popular destination. Owner Louise Demchuk estimates that in each class of 25, nearly 75 per cent will be from Newtown. Pat and Paul Babbage’s daughter, Lauren, is a graduate of WCDI. After calling other area driving schools, Mrs Babbage says, “It didn’t seem any further to go to Brookfield than Danbury or Monroe.” Recommendations from family friends influenced their final decision.

Another driving school that pulls in a lot of Newtown residents is The Gary Knepler Driving School in Monroe. Rick and Dawn Tanner’s daughter took it upon herself to find a driver’s education course, and the flexible schedule at Knepler’s fit her busy schedule this past summer. Jill Tanner heard about the school through her friends. Most of them had attended classes at Knepler’s, or at the high school.

 “You can go,” she says, “whenever you can. He [Gary Knepler] rotates the lectures, so every time you go, you end up getting as many required classes as you need.” The proximity of Monroe to Newtown appealed to this young woman, as well.

Chris Jacob, a senior, and his brother, Will, a junior at Newtown High School, both attended Knepler’s. Like Jill, they were able to pick and choose which classes fit into their school and work schedules. The boys’ parents, Tammy and Randy Jacob, saved enough on car insurance by enrolling their children in a certified program that it offset what they paid for the classes; and they liked that the Monroe school was less than eight miles from their home.

Gary Knepler, owner, thinks that it is more than proximity that draws a 35–40 percent Newtown enrollment in his classes.

“My school provides a parent orientation,” he says. “Parents are encouraged to be involved in the classes.” Some parents visit the classroom; others choose to ride along with the instructor and student on the road. He feels this method helps parents to understand and be able to reinforce driving techniques outside of class hours.

On the other side of Monroe, classes consist of about 20 percent Newtown students at the Howe Driving School. Says Joyce Howe, owner, “Word of mouth is how people find out about us. We were the first driving school in Connecticut, people know our reputation.”

She has seen an increase in enrollment over the past five to ten years, which she attributes to a number of reasons. “One, you get an insurance discount, the money you pay is returned in a few years. Two, the availability of times here.” Ongoing classes, offered twice each afternoon, as well as Saturday morning classes, make enrollment an easy process and offer a lot of options for busy families.

Finally, she says, “Most parents appreciate professionalism and don’t want to teach their kids.”

Right off of Exit 6 in Danbury, Barry Thayer of The Thayer Driver Education Center feels that the convenience of location and class times attracts the Newtown residents who make up approximately ten percent of his students.

“We offer afternoon and evening classes,” says Mr Thayer, “with new classes starting about the first Monday every other month. We have three summer classes, and seven days a week driving time, which means kids can fit in driving time more easily. I’d say it’s convenience that brings them here.”

Like Gary Knepler’s and Western Connecticut Driving Institute, Thayer’s and Howe Driving School offer license testing on site for students’ driver’s licenses. Peg and Chris Martin see this as a huge plus. Their son, Ryan, took driver’s education at the high school, where scheduling a license test with the Department of Motor Vehicles is left entirely up to the participants, and she says, they did not have enough information to help them with the process. Ryan is their oldest child, and this was their first experience with the DMV system.

“We didn’t make the appointment early enough,” says Mrs Martin, “and there’s about a two-month waiting list to get an appointment. There were paperwork issues, we didn’t have the right ones from the class, and he was driving on unfamiliar roads to take the test.” When their twins are old enough to get their licenses, the Martins will be looking at a school that offers on-site testing. “We hadn’t considered that,” she says.

Michael and Ann Meehan experienced frustration navigating the DMV licensing procedure when their oldest child, Matt, took driver’s education through the high school. Also, because there is only one instructor, getting behind the wheel time can take a long time, she says. Her next two drivers-to-be enrolled at Academy of Driving in Danbury.

Mrs Meehan says, “All the testing is done there,” a convenience she feels more than makes up for the few extra dollars they paid at this school. “We only had to go to DMV to get their pictures.” Lori and Mark, a junior and senior this year at NHS, liked that the classes are on a rotating schedule, and students do not have to go every day. Students could take up to a year if they needed, according to the Meehans, to complete the course work. Most do not take that long.

To drive or not to drive is not the question. If you have a teenager, they will drive. The question is, when will that be and how will they attain that goal? Home school, driver’s school; pay a lot, pay a little; travel far or near. It’s never too soon to start looking.