T. J. ROYAL
Staff Writer
May 14, 2008 11:06 am
—
The North Carolina Driving School was "very surprised" that Edgecombe County Public Schools did not renew a three-year contract with the company at Monday's Board meeting.
The county Board of Education did not move to renew a contract with North Carolina Driving School due to concerns about a canceled session.
Chairwoman Evelyn Wilson suggested that the board should take time to "iron out the concerns" she had heard about the situation before renewing the contract with the driving school. Details about the situation were not given Monday night.
Mark Smith, 37, director of operations for the Winterville-based driving school, said he was “very surprised” that ECPS did not renew his company's contract.
He said the cancellation that Wilson referred to concerned a former SouthWest Edgecombe High School teacher, Dudley Etheridge. Smith said Etheridge worked for the company until he resigned in February, and that he was a driving instructor at North Edgecombe High School.
The session Wilson referred to at the meeting was not canceled, Smith said. Instead, after Etheridge's resignation caused the class to not take place as scheduled, Smith said the session for North Edgecombe was made up in March.
Smith insisted that the school's central office, nor any of the schools, did not show any concern about that particular delay or with the driving school's performance otherwise.
"There certainly hasn't been any letters of concern" from parents or principals about the matter, Smith said.
He added that the lack of concern he has heard was "one reason why we were quite taken aback" with the board's decision to not renew the three year contract Monday.
This morning, Wilson said she was informed Monday night that "some sessions or a session" had been cancelled, but no details. As a result, Wilson said students tried to enroll with Rocky Mount/Nash County school system classes to make up for them, but were denied because those classes were full.
However, Wilson said she was not aware of Etheridge's involvement with the situation.
She said the focus now has turned from canceled sessions to "the quality of training" that North Carolina Driving School is providing.
Wilson said that about a month before Monday's meeting, a parent approached her about driver education training and said "the teacher scared the student to death." Wilson added that the upcoming "junior or senior" was not driving today.
Wilson did not specify the number of people who had complaints about driver education. She instead likened it to a rumor, where "one person says one thing, another says another.
"A red flag keeps popping up about the same topic, (and) it's time to say 'Hey, we need to find out something about this.'"
Wilson said she had not personally contacted anyone with the North Carolina Driving School, nor had other board members done so to her knowledge. She said the school system has people hired to handle those types of contracts, "who will communicate directly with the owners of the driving school.
"If necessary, we're not afraid to ask people to come (before the Board) and tell what they're going to do, point blank," Wilson said.
The board's agenda for Monday's meeting listed three driving schools that submitted bids for a contract with the school system: Raleigh's Jordan Driving School, Little Driving School and the North Carolina Driving School.
The North Carolina Driving School's bid was the lowest and would have won the school system's contract. Their proposal was $540 per student over the three-year period.
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