JAMES CITY — Driver’s education is necessary for most teenagers to drive legally in Virginia, but fulfilling that prerequisite has been easier for some Williamsburg-James City County students than it has been for others.
At Tuesday’s Williamsburg-James City County School Board meeting, board members and other speakers said some students at Lafayette High School were having to pay for private training because not enough classes were being offered.
Drivers under 18 must enroll in a Virginia-approved driver education program to meet the requirements to obtain a learner’s permit. At its high schools, the WJCC school division offers a yearlong course that students request the prior year.
WJCC spokesperson Kara Wall said for the past academic year, eight classes were offered at Warhill High School, five at Jamestown High School and four at Lafayette. At time of publication, she did not have information about a waitlist at Lafayette.
Lafayette has the smallest student body among high schools in the division and the highest percentage of minority students. The York-James City-Williamsburg branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People questioned whether the insufficient amount of driver’s education at that school was an equity issue.
Susan Hildum, with the NAACP branch’s education committee, said at the school board meeting that whether or not this disparity was intentional, it looks bad.
“It is remarkable that the fewest resources are available to the school with the most disadvantaged and minority students who likely have the least ability to access this essential training from a private source,” she said.
Jessica Anderson, a parent of a Lafayette student who is the Democratic candidate for the House of Delegates’ 71st district seat, said her family opted to find private driving instruction because there were not enough classes available.
Board members Kimberley Hundley and Julie Hummel, who have also had students at Lafayette, agreed. Hundley said as soon as her children were old enough, they wanted their learner’s permits, but they were not able to get the needed education at school.
“It’s really hard,” she said. “We have (had) to pay outside services for both of our children.”
Hummel said she paid for three of her children’s education classes outside of Lafayette.
“We could afford to pay and it was okay,” she said, “but they’re a lot of students who can’t, who don’t have the choice.”
Wall said that for the coming school year, 58 students have requested the driver’s education course at Lafayette, and current staffing can accommodate that number.
J.W. Caterine, [email protected]
