OJAI : District to Continue Driver’s Training

More than 100 Nordhoff High School students waiting to take driver’s training classes this year will not be disappointed.

The Ojai Unified School District board has decided to continue the classes through the school year, despite losing at least $15,000 in state budget cuts to pay for the program.

“If it will help one student who otherwise might not be as safe, then it’s worth it,” board member Robert Emhardt said.

The board’s 5-0 vote Tuesday makes Ojai the only school district in Ventura County that has not dropped driving practice from its regular curriculum or started charging fees for it as an adult education program.

“The fact that we’re the only district in the county doesn’t bother me,” board member Robert Tholl said. “The fact that almost every year we’ve had a young person killed does concern me.”

Nordhoff science teacher Del Garst, who has taught driver’s education and training at the school for 17 years, said he was relieved that the 48 students now enrolled in the first-quarter training session will not be the last to receive it free from the district.

“The CHP tells me this is one of the most dangerous areas in the county,” said Garst, who trained 186 Nordhoff students in vehicles last year.

Board Vice President Muriel Sharkey Lavender suggested that the state’s new governor might resurrect the $21.2 million for driver’s training programs that Gov. George Deukmejian cut from the budget. The board decided to wait until June to take further action.