District seeks to enlist teens in drivers program Middletown schools will require decal for parking permit BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer Assemblywoman Amy Handlin (R-13) holds up one of the decals that will be used as part of a Regional Teen Drive Safety Initiative pilot program. MIDDLETOWN- The Board of Education met Feb. 20 to discuss ways to implement the new graduated driver's license (GDL) bumper sticker program. "Our district gave Assemblywoman [Amy] Handlin [R-13] our full support, and we are looking into implementing the program," Assistant Schools Superintendent DavidHealy said. "Administration is now discussing a plan." At a press conference Feb. 14, Healy and Handlin along with Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno and Freeholders Lillian Burry and Barbara McMorrow spoke about the new GDL sticker program and the regional TeenDriver Safety Initiative pilot program. AGDLis a provisional license assigned to 17-yearolds in New Jersey that makes them subject to specific rules. The restrictions under the GDL include: no driving between 12:01 a.m. and 5 a.m.; all except one passenger must be from the driver's household; and cell phones, handheld video games or any other handheld electronic devices are prohibited while driving. Healy said the purpose of the GDL sticker is to alert other drivers on the road that the driver is a new one and to proceed cautiously. It will also alert police to who is driving the vehicle. The board discussed the pros and cons of the plan and different ways to initiate it at the township's two high schools. The districtwill be requiring that all students with a GDLwho apply for on- campus parking permits must display the new sticker on their bumpers. "There are about 700 or so kids in the community [who would qualify for the sticker]. … It's going to be a visual for residents and police to identify who these drivers are," said Healy. BoardmemberRose Stallmeyer said that not every student applies for a parking permit to begin with, because they feel that police target them on the road when they display one. "We have some kids who are willing to park a block away so that they do not have to have the parking permit," Stallmeyer said. "This sticker wouldn't be on their cars, either." Board member Leonora Caminiti said that some students receive their driver's license before their senior year, and shemade some suggestions on how to get the stickers onto their cars. "We should send themhome with the report cards to the parents," Caminiti said. "They are the ones that we have to get the message to, so that they can see what their kids are doing." "We are trying to capture them at the moment where they are most likely to have toomany kids in their car," Stallmeyer said. "Leaving the school grounds is the perfect moment." "Just because you have your own driver's license doesn'tmean you have your own car," Laura Agin, board vice president, said. "Kidsmay have a car that they drive all the time which is the one we would require them to put the sticker on, but what if they drive their parents' car or share it? Does that mean we have to put stickers on all of the cars?" Healy said that the stickers will be provided by Handlin's office at no cost to the district and that the district could give out as many as are needed. "I have about 300 in my office and I will be receiving more,"Healy said. "Handing them out should not be a problem." Board member Patricia Walsh suggested that the district ask the students in driver's education courses if theywould bewilling to have the stickers on their cars, an idea that was quickly dismissed by the rest of the board. "You have to understand that these kids do not want the stickers on their cars," Caminiti said. "Ifwe ask them, they are just going to say no." Healy suggested that the district announce the program in a more public way, with signs posted throughout the schools and in public places so that parents of students who do not park on campus can come into the high schools and pick up stickers to place on the cars. Healy said that he has heard fromneighboring towns like Matawan that also have expressed an interest in the program. Middletown Schools Superintendent Karen Bilbao said the district does not have a timetable on when the stickers will be handed out to seniors, andHealy added that the discussion is ongoing. "We are targeting the prom and graduation season still," Healy said. "Hopefully, by doing so, we can save a few lives." Bilbao said that the key to the entire program is the cooperation of parents. "We have to get the parents involved," she said. "We have to get the information out to the parents if we want this program to succeed."