Teachers from 5 States Cited as Teachers of Excellence by American Driver & Traffic Safety Education Association and The National Road Safety Foundation

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Jul 21, 2020, 10:00 ET

NEW YORK, July 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Driver education teachers from Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Oregon and Vermont have been selected by their peers nationwide as Teachers of Excellence. The honor, which carries with it a cash stipend, comes from the American Driver & Traffic Safety Education Association (ADTSEA) and 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.

The 2020 Teachers of Excellence are Wayne Hartmann, who teaches at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, IL; Molly Kleiber, a teacher at Liberty High School in Lake St. Louis, MO.; Jorge Benetiz, an instructor at Jordan Driving School of the Carolinas in Vanceville, NC; Timothy Beckham, who supervises instructors at the Oregon Driver Education Center in Keizer, OR; and George Rooney, who teaches at Middlebury Union High School in Middlebury,VT.

"Driving instructors are dedicated and passionate teachers who often serve as role models in ways that often go far beyond driver education," said David Reich of The National Road Safety Foundation and a member of the ADTSEA Board of Directors. "The five teachers being honored with the Teacher Excellence Award have demonstrated impressive creativity and enthusiasm in the important work they do to make driving safely a lifelong experience."

Teacher of Excellence honoree Wayne Hartmann has taught driver education since 1998 and for the past 21 years has taught at Nuequa Valley High School in Naperville, IL. He was recognized in 2014 by Illinois Sec. of State Jesse White for his outstanding commitment to use of technology to engage students. Hartmann said that growing up on a farm, riding with his father as they trucked grain to market, gave him an early appreciation for the importance of safe driving. He feels the biggest challenge for driver education is emerging technology, both in cars and as a teaching tool.

Molly Kleiber has just completed her fifth year teaching driver education at Liberty High School in Wentzville, MO, where she has been a strong advocate for the use of technology in the classroom. She energizes her students and the community to promote safe driving, and in 2016 led her school to win a $10,000 grant in a Safe Driving Pledge contest from a local car dealership. She currently is president of the Missouri Driver Safety Education Association.

Jorge Benetiz, who has been a music and band teacher at the high school in Havelock, NC for more than 25 years, became the school's driver education coordinator five years ago, when the current driver education teacher moved to another school. "Initially," he recalls, "I took the job to fill a need. But after going through my training, I realized that this was one of the most important skills students can learn while in high school."

Timothy Beckham, vice president of the Oregon Driver Education Center and a driving instructor trainer at Western Oregon University, cites his children as the reason he became involved in driver education. Beckham, who has taught driver education for eight years, says self-driving cars, still a long way off, will not change the need for driver instruction. "As educators in the first stages of a technological transition," he notes, "we have the opportunity to teach the safe use of new technology and what to do if the technology fails."

George Rooney, a driver education instructor at Middlebury Union High School in Middlebury, Vermont, says he became a driver education teacher after a close friend was killed by a teen driver who made one mistake. He thinks the driver education community must be more accepting of alternative means of delivering instruction, from online course material to use of simulators.

"These outstanding teachers we are recognizing represent our 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 the 2020 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 nearly 60 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 Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, DC. To view and download free programs and for more information, visit www.nrsf.org or www.teenlane.org.

Contact: David Reich, 212 573-6000, c: 914 325-9997, [email protected]

SOURCE The National Road Safety Foundation