Five driver education teachers from Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota and Vermont have been selected by their peers nationwide as Teachers of Excellence. The honor, from the American Driver & Traffic Safety Education Association (ADTSEA), carries with it a cash stipend from The National Road Safety Foundation, a non-profit group that creates driver safety education materials and makes them available at no cost to teachers and schools, police, traffic safety advocates and youth organizations.
"Driving instructors are a dedicated and passionate group whose mission is to save lives and prevent needless tragedy by helping young people learn how to drive safely and responsibly. They often serve as role models for their students in many ways that go beyond driving safely," said David Reich, of The National Road Safety Foundation and a member of the ADTSEA Board of Directors. "The teachers being honored with the Teacher Excellence Award have demonstrated impressive creativity and enthusiasm in the important work they do."
Stanley Blicharz, the director of driver education in the West Rutland School District and Burr & Burton Academy, has been a driver ed instructor in Vermont for 20 years. He began teaching driving while coaching the local American Legion's baseball team, where he heard his players joke about reckless driving and getting speeding tickets. He knew he could make a difference, so he completed the requirements to become a driver ed teacher. "It was the best decision I ever made," he recalls. He became active in the Vermont Driver Training & Safety Education Association, where he served two terms as president. During his tenure, he helped convince the Vermont State Legislature not to move ahead with a plan to drop driver ed from the public schools. He is a strong proponent of parent involvement and has instituted mandatory parent-student meetings to gain parental buy-in to the importance of driver safety. He would like to see stronger support for driver education from businesses, state lawmakers and insurance companies, which would help people realize the serious need for improved driver education and would also encourage more young people to consider getting into the field.
"These teachers who are being honored represent the best, who inspire others to be passionate and effective teachers of this important life skill," said Rich Hanson, who heads the selection committee for ADTSEA. "We are proud to honor them as Teachers of Excellence."
The Teacher Excellence Awards, given by The National Road Safety Foundation, are named in memory of Dr. Francis Kenel, a traffic safety engineer, former director of the AAA, author of driver ed teacher training materials and a mentor to countless driver education instructors.
The American Driver and Traffic Safety Education is the professional association that represents traffic safety educators throughout the United States. As a national advocate for quality traffic safety education, the group creates and publishes policies and guidelines for driver ed and conducts conferences and workshops for teachers. It was instrumental in creating the new driver education curriculum standard issued recently by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The National Road Safety Foundation (NRSF), a non-profit organization, has supported ADTSEA's Teacher Excellence Awards program for ten years. For more than 55 years, NRSF has created driver education programs and materials for free distribution to teachers, police, traffic safety agencies, youth advocacy groups and others. NRSF has programs on distraction, speed and aggression, impairment and drowsy driving. The group also sponsors contests for teens in partnership with SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions), FCCLA and Scholastic, as well as regional teen contests in partnership with auto shows in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, DC. To view and download free programs and for more information, visit www.nrsf.org or www.teenlane.org.