There is no feeling in the world like holding your driver’s license in your hands for the first time — a feeling that is highly anticipated by high school students. For many freshmen and future high school students, the process of getting a license just got a little more complicated.
On May 3, 2010, Superintendent Jack Dale sent out a press release to Fairfax County Schools informing faculty and students of the new requirement students need to complete in order to obtain their juvenile driver’s license. Beginning this September, students will have to complete a 90-minute Virginia Department of Education parent-teen driving program. This requirement was mandated after the General Assembly of Virginia passed bill no. 1782, stating all schools in the state must follow the new requirement.
“The purpose is basically to inform parents about the process of getting a license and to get them more involved, because some parents do not understand the process of getting a license,” said driver’s education teacher Amy Lipicky. “Some of them think behind the wheel is a teaching course, but it’s not, it’s a licensure course.”
The program is necessary to any student who wants to get their green card, along with the completion of behind the wheel and the driver’s education courses. Until students receive their green card, they can’t obtain a license.
This will apply to any student who is taking driver’s education through their physical education class. According to the official memo, the program will be provided at every FCPS high school during one quarter of the school year. For many who have anticipated getting a license, the new requirement feels more like a road block.
“It bothers me, because you already [have to] spend 45 hours in the car driving with your parents, [now,] we have to spend another 90 minutes with them,” said freshman Paul Helfgott.
The program will also inform parents of their responsibility as the parents of student drivers. According to Car-Accidents.com, drivers between 16 and 19 years of age are four times more likely than drivers in their ages groups to injure or kill themselves in a car accident. Teenagers have the highest risk of getting into accidents because of their inexperience. Driving-related incidents cause 36 percent of the deaths within that age group. Also, there is a higher risk for male teenage drivers.
“Some parents don’t realize they have the right to take their child’s license away if they are under 18, but they do,” said Lipicky.
On May 18, the current driver’s education teachers will be attending an informational meeting about the parent-child program. Since the program is in its early stages, many logistics still have to be worked out. At the meeting, certain problems will be addressed, like how this program will include parents that do not speak English. Based on what she knows now, Lipicky thinks that overall goal of the program is to educate parents and their children so they are on the same page.
“Parents know their kids the best, and they know how they learn. If anything, it’s going to inform their parents, which, for some kids, is a benefit. It will make the in-car experience better,” said Lipicky.
