The District 233 school board, on a 5-2 vote, agreed to purchase vehicles from Sutton Ford so that it can resume offering behind-the-wheel driver’s education to students at Homewood-Flossmoor High School.
H-F will purchase four Ford Fusion vehicles from the Olympia Fields dealership for $20,583 each, and pay $1,650 to have the special driver’s ed braking system installed in two of the cars. The high school owns that equipment.
The total package of $83,982 was approved at the Aug. 18 board meeting by members Nathan Legardy, Gerald Pauling, Annette Bannon, Debbie Berman and Steve Anderson. Members Pam Jackson and Beth Larocca voted no.
Students need 30 hours of class instruction and the six-hour behind-the-wheel experience to pass the class.
For several years, H-F leased cars – two during the school year and eight during the summer – through a special leasing program offered by General Motors. The program cost the district $6,100 annually and it worked well.
But Homewood Chevy, which provided the driver’s ed cars, told H-F administrators that special lease program for schools has ended. That forced board members to look at options of vehicle lease or purchase.
Business manager Lawrence Cook said he solicited bids from six businesses, but only Sutton offered a bid. He said an outright vehicle purchase would be cheaper – in the long run – than a lease program.
Superintendent Von Mansfield said cars in the H-F fleet are kept for at least five or six years.
“That’s been our game plan. That’s our MO,” he said.
Cook told members of the board’s Finance Committee, “I went with the minimum number of driver’s ed vehicles I think we can get away with.”
Two of the four cars will replace cars used by staff checking on fraudulent residency claims. Staff now has cars with over 110,000 miles and the maintenance bills on the cars has been quite high, Cook said. He said those residency cars would be back-up, should a driver’s ed car be unavailable.
Mansfield said while students are on a remote learning schedule, driver’s ed teachers will use a Saturday schedule for behind-the-wheel training. H-F typically has about 100 students take the class during the fall and spring semesters, and double shifts in the summer. There is a waiting list because H-F hasn’t offered driver’s ed behind-the-wheel after it went into quarantine mode in March.
Mansfield said the driver’s ed program will follow all safety guidelines set by the Illinois State Board of Education.