It was a reality check delivered not in a policy manual, but in the personal frustration of a board member who has navigated the logistical maze of teaching a teenager to drive twice in recent years. During Thursday’s Board of Education work session, the district confirmed what many parents had feared but few could corroborate: the Croton-Harmon school district no longer offers a Driver’s Education program. The elimination of the program, a staple of the high school experience prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, stems from a perfect storm of a third-party vendor shutting down and an inability to find certified staff to run the program internally Board Of Trustees 2026-01-07. The revelation came during a report on the Student Faculty Congress (SFC), where high school students have been actively lobbying to restore the course. "There were some students specifically some sophomores and juniors who were interested in the idea of running driver's ed again at our school because that used to be a program prior to [COVID] but we know we had issues with the school we were working with shutting down..." 10:54▶ The students, facing the same barriers as their parents, did more than just complain. They formed a committee to find workarounds and met with district administration to explore options. However, they hit a wall regarding staffing. "I think they just can't find they can't find the staff to do it, unfortunately." 11:45▶ The consequence of this staffing and vendor failure falls squarely on the families of Croton-Harmon. Without an in-district option, parents must now navigate a fractured private market. A board member, recounting their own recent experience, highlighted the burden this places on working families. "There's a real accessibility issue because you basically having gone through this twice recently. I mean, you need to have somebody be able to drive your child during working hours to most places and like we're it's a mess." 12:13▶ The logistical hurdles—transporting a child to private lessons during standard working hours, or paying premium rates for weekend slots—have turned a rite of passage into a significant financial and scheduling strain. Students are now investigating regional solutions. The administration told the board they are "looking at options to essentially like funnel students through other nearby schools that run it," 10:54▶ specifically citing Austintown as a district that successfully runs a program 11:07▶. Climate Data: Respect Up, Comfort Slightly Down While the Driver’s Ed discussion highlighted a resource gap, the board also spent significant time reviewing a resource surplus: data regarding student well-being. Superintendent Walker presented the Winter 2026 School Climate Survey, which for the first time offered a cohort analysis, tracking the same group of students from Spring 2025 (third grade) to Fall 2025 (fourth grade). The results painted a picture of a district generally succeeding in social-emotional learning, yet facing the friction points typical of growing up. At the elementary level, the percentage of students reporting they felt respected rose from 61% to 73%. However, the report noted a slight decline in the metric for "I feel emotionally safe and comfortable" 18:09▶ between the spring and fall administrations. Administrators cautioned against reading too much into the dip without context. The fall survey was administered in September, only three weeks into the school year, a time when students are adjusting to new classrooms and new peers. "I'm starting to wonder if like this talk about like people not wanting to get their driver's licenses is because it's actually becoming impossible." 11:56▶ The survey discussion touched on the Little Spot
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