Auto Right to teach driver education at high school

Auto Right Driving School will continue to teach driver education to Fairfield High School students following the school board?s approval of a contract during a special meeting Tuesday evening.

Auto Right Driving School has been the Fairfield Community School District?s driver education provider for the past three years. Two classes are provided in the fall, two in the spring and one in the summer.

Tuition for the class will remain at $350 for the next three years. However, if gas prices rise above $4 per gallon, Auto Right has the option to add a $25 fuel surcharge to a student?s tuition.

Superintendent Art Sathoff said Fred Bindner of Auto Right had asked about adding the surcharge last year, ?but I told him no because we were in the middle of a contract.?

Board member Ralph Messerli questioned how the gas price would be monitored, how the surcharge would be implemented and if the gas price went down, would the surcharge go down, also?

Sathoff said he would speak with Bindner about those concerns.

He also plans to speak to Bindner about how the company handles tuition payment. The district is required to provide free driver education for recipients of free- and reduced-fee lunches. In the past, Auto Right collected fees from all students and then handed checks back to students who were taking the class for free. Sathoff said that identifies students receiving free- and reduced-fee lunch, and that is not allowable. He would like the checks to be returned to the student through the FHS office.

Sathoff also plans to speak with Bindner about a sentence in the contract that states: ?Auto Right will be the sole provider of Driver Education to the students of Fairfield High School.?

?We can?t require students to go to Auto Right,? Sathoff said. ?If a student wants to go down the street to Miss Daisy, they can. We can?t force them to go to Auto Right.?