All-Star Already Contracting With School District For Driver’s Ed

By John Voket

All-Star Transportation may be vying for the Newtown School District student bus contract, but a subsidiary of the company called All-Star Driver already has a district deal as the sole referral and provider of driver’s education for local high school students.

Notification about the program with All-Star Driver was among several pieces of correspondence in this week’s Board of Education packets circulated at a May 5 meeting, but was not on the agenda or discussed. Perhaps because All-Star Driver has been providing services to the district since early March.

According to Elissa Gellis, Newtown’s director of Continuing Education, she was approached by a high school staff member in January or early February and asked about taking over the driver’s ed program. The resulting contract, negotiated with company representative Brandon Dufour, provides exclusive referral opportunities for any school district member or anyone contacting the school district for driver’s education or on-the-road driver’s training, including all mandatory classes and training for new drivers.

Around that same time, All-Star Driver was in the process of venturing into the driver’s education business. On February 11, All-Star Driver reportedly acquired the properties, fleet, and staff of the defunct Academy of Driving, after its owners, Jack and Sharon Sousa, were banned from teaching driving in the state for life.

In January, the husband and wife were sentenced to probation on forgery, conspiracy, and criminal impersonation charges. The two were accused of hiring unqualified instructors, and admitted to notarizing and submitting false address verification documents to the Department of Motor Vehicles, along with committing criminal impersonation.

According to reports, three of their workers faced criminal charges as well.

Coincidentally, Ms Gellis told The Bee this week that All-Star was asked to remove the classroom instructor from the very first class being held under the Continuing Ed department’s administration because of “student complaints.”

“They said [the teacher] didn’t seem to know the material,” Ms Gellis said. “But [All-Star’s owners] were extremely cooperative and changed the teacher immediately when we called them about it.”

Ms Gellis said after agreeing to take over the administration of the driver’s ed contract from the high school, she spent most of the February break contacting “six or seven” potential vendors, which she said “all offered the same thing at different prices.” And after narrowing her choices down to three, Ms Gellis selected All-Star, saying she “went for the best bang for the buck.”

This contention was strenuously criticized by the owner of another driving school, who told The Bee Wednesday that he not only offered the district better pricing than the plan All-Star’s provides through the district, but crafted a program to allow student to fulfill the basic legal requirements to test for a driver’s license priced $200 below All-Star’s district base plan.

Competitor Has Questions

Gary Knepler, owner of a Monroe-based driving school that bears his name, said he offered to teach the same program All-Star is offering through Newtown Continuing Ed for $499, which includes a 30-hour classroom component and eight hours of hands-on, behind-the-wheel instruction. The application for Newtown’s All-Star program is $525, plus a $25 required text book.

Mr Knepler said he also developed a $250 plan that fulfills the eight-hour state-mandated alcohol and safe driving segment in class, the two-hour mandated parent class, and two hours of behind-the-wheel instruction. But Mr Knepler, whose school has been operating for more than 50 years, said he also had concerns for the students and parents.

Mr Knepler said he “doesn’t begrudge” the operators of All-Star for getting the Newtown contract. But he pointed out that the town’s current vendor did acquire the Academy of Driving sites, instructors, and fleet.

“Now they have a different owner with no background in driver’s education, while we’ve been doing it for 56 years,” Mr Knepler said. “I think the owners of All-Star have good intentions, but how can the school pick economics over safety?”

Mr Knepler was also concerned when, after he tendered the apparent lowest overall bid for the contract, that he was contacted by the Continuing Ed program asking, “How much will you pay us for the classroom?”

“I didn’t even respond to the request for payment,” he said. “It was an insult. My price was already so low.”

Ms Gellis admitted that All-Star is paying her office back at the rate of $35 per student for use of the local classroom to hold training sessions, but that the proceeds are going right back into the system to underwrite the cost of summer programs. All-Star has already completed one full driver’s ed session under the current contract, and is in the middle of its second with no further complaints beyond the original teacher issue that Ms Gellis said was handled immediately and satisfactorily.

She said she has scheduled two more All-Star sessions going into the summer, after which her office will evaluate the vendor and consider whether or not to seek offers for further services. All-Star is contracted on a session-by-session basis.

And while Ms Gellis said All-Star is not the only driver’s ed vendor serving clients in Newtown, it is the sole referral to anyone who calls the district, or her office looking for driver’s ed training.

“We provide the referral as more of a convenience,” Ms Gellis said. “They are the sole provider at this time. And when we’re not happy with the provider, we look for another.”

Although the district only offers the base All-Star class, once students are enrolled, they have the opportunity to access All-Star’s full suite of services, which escalate to a $1,275 package that includes the 30 hours of classroom and 20 hours behind the wheel instruction. The vendor also offers an optional testing package for $125, and extra lessons for $65 for existing students.

Michele Vontobel, the assistant Continuing Ed administrator, said All-Star presented a program price that was extremely competitive.

“[Mr Dufour] was here when he said he would be, answered all our questions, he was very accommodating and professional, and returned calls within a day,” she said. “We didn’t know anything about driver’s ed before this year, so it’s a learning process. But we think [All-Star] is providing an affordable service for our population.”