Naperville Teacher Wins National Driver Education Award

Press release from The National Road Safety Foundation:

July 2, 2020

NEW YORK, July 2, 2020 -- Wayne Hartmann, who has taught driver education since 1998 and for the past 21 years has taught at Nuequa Valley High School in Naperville, IL, is one of five driver education teachers from throughout the U.S. to be selected by their peers 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.

Hartmann was recognized in 2014 by Illinois Sec. of State Jesse White for his outstanding commitment to use of technology to engage students. He says 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, which was enhanced by his high school driver education teacher, who inspired him to pursue a career in driver education. He feels the biggest challenge for driver education is emerging technology, both in cars and as a teaching tool.

“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.”

“Wayne represents 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 him and his colleagues as the 2020 Teachers of Excellence.”
The other 2020 Teachers of Excellence are Molly Kleiber, a teacher at Liberty High School in Lake St. Louis, MO; Timothy Beckham, vice president of the Oregon Driver Education Center; Jorge Benetiz, an instructor at Jordan Driving School of the Carolinas in Vanceville, NC; and George Rooney, who teaches at Middlebury Union High School in Middlebury, VT.

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. Official presentations will be made when ADTSEA holds its annual conference later this month, which will be convened virtually online due to the pandemic. Hartmann and the other TEA recipients will do online presentations highlighting techniques that earned them the TEA recognition.

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.

This press release was produced by The National Road Safety Foundation. The views expressed here are the author's own.