History of Driver's Ed in Iredell County

History of Driver Education in Iredell County

John Noe from the State Department came to Iredell County and certified young male teachers from each school. Among the first people he certified were Paul Brendle - Cool Springs, Richard Feimster - Scotts, Phil Dulin - Troutman, Key Hole Jones - Celeste Henkel, and William Littlejohn - Unity. This program was new throughout the state. Mr. Noe needed people in the State Department to train Driver Education teachers. He offered the job to Paul Brendle. Paul turned the offer down, because he was playing professional baseball and was not ready to give up baseball.

Standard shift cars were used for driver training throughout the 50's. Cars were leased from local dealerships and were equipped with driver training foot breaks.  Cars with automatic transmissions were used in the early 60's until the present. In the 60's and 70's the local Oldsmobile, Chevrolet, and Plymouth dealerships loaned cars to Driver Education free of charge.

• 1948 - The Superintendent of Public Instruction appoints John Noe to Driver Education Consultant for North Carolina.

• 1953 - Iredell County chose to offer the course as an elective.  Our district offered the classroom work as well as in car training.

• 1963 - The state of North Carolina made the classroom portion of Driver Education compulsory. Dale McCurdy, was appointed the director of Driver's Education of Iredell County and Tony McClamrock for Statesville City Schools.

• 1965 -  The state of North Carolina made 6 hours of in car training compulsory.

• 1989 -  Sheryl Morrison was hired as the first female Driver's Education Teacher in Iredell-Statesville Schools.