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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — At least 10 driving instructors licensed in Iowa have criminal records or driving infractions in their past, but they've been allowed to keep working with teens because of a forgiving state law.
The Des Moines Register reports (http://dmreg.co/1qYBn4J ) at least three driving instructors have drunken driving convictions, two have assault convictions and four have more than a dozen driving citations and other infractions.
Ever since 2010, state law has been more forgiving to driver's ed instructors who are involved in accidents or have multiple moving violations on their records.
"Our code has always given people a couple freebies," said Mark Lowe, director of the Iowa Department of Transportation's Motor Vehicle Division.
That doesn't sit very well with Jean Feller, who discovered this summer that her son's driver's education instructor was using another instructor's identity. The instructor had previously pleaded guilty to providing wine to student drivers in 2012, and he has been charged with identity theft.
"If they are teaching kids to follow the laws and the rules of the road, then they should be observing the rules of the road themselves," said Feller, who lives in Oxford.
One of the instructors with numerous infractions on his record is Michael Gossen, who also serves as an associate principal at Mount Pleasant Middle School. Eight of Gossen's 12 infractions are speeding tickets. Nine of Gossen's infractions are over five years old.
"I had some events happen in my life that changed my perspective and behaviors, and I wanted to use that as a position of leverage for kids," Gossen said. "Because they're well in my past, I think they provide good learning experiences for kids, too."
Nationally, there isn't a firm standard for driving instructor's qualifications because each state determines what's acceptable. But Sharon Fife with the Association of National Stakeholders in Traffic Safety Education says many states are more strict than Iowa.
"I've never hired anyone with an OWI. Never," said Fife, who is also past president of the Driving School Association of the Americas, an international organization of driving school owners headquartered in Ohio. "We have 25 instructors at our school, and we probably have one or two that have a moving violation. So they're clean. And they should be clean. If you're a traffic safety professional, your records should be clean. Period."
Many Iowa schools have hired private companies to provide driver education because of the expense and the challenges in finding certified teachers. So the schools rely on the companies to perform background checks on teachers.
"If it was economically feasible, we'd rather do it ourselves," said Superintendent Mike Jorgensen of the Washington school district in southeast Iowa.
The state requires public schools to provide driver's education.
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Information from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com
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