Community and
school band together to help educate students on safe driving
March 2007
Monticello Central School District is offering its sophomores
and juniors a free chance to learn about car and driver safety.
In a community sponsored program, which combines the National
Safety Council’s Alive at 25 training with the NY State
Defensive Driver class, students will receive information aimed
at raising their awareness of dangers when they are behind the
wheel of a moving vehicle.
This new program was spearheaded by Yellow Cab owner Alan Kesten,
after being inspired by a similar effort in the Fallsburg School
District. He decided to get other businesses, along with his
own, to donate the money needed to fund the program. Kesten, who
is the current president of the Monticello Fire Department and a
part-time funeral director, felt it was time for someone to take
action to help stop the rising death rate of our youth.
“Over the years I have had to cut a lot of our kids out of
wrecked cars,” explained Kesten. “Then I had to face their
parents at the funeral home.” With the latest national
statistics blaming 44% of teen deaths on motor vehicle
accidents, Kesten felt the Monticello School community had to
take action. Kesten hopes the training will help students
identify if they have risky driving behaviors and give them ways
to modify those behaviors and develop safer driving skills. He
also stressed that parents need to take more responsibility for
making sure their children are educated in driver safety before
they hand over the car keys.
Monticello’s Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Michel
embraced the idea of the teen program whole-heartedly and helped
Kesten make it a reality. “Mr. Kesten’s enthusiasm and tireless
efforts are only paralleled by his sincere concern for the
safety of our children,” said Michel. “This program is a good
step in the right direction.”
As part of the incentive for students to sign up for the weekend
classes, Michel suggested that Monticello High School Principal
Arleene Siegel-Lerner make the class part of the requirement for
next year’s juniors and seniors to get a parking permit.
Siegel-Lerner then re-wrote the permit rules to include it,
along with the other criteria such as maintaining passing grades
and having a good discipline record.
Presently, Kesten has collected more than $8,000 in donations
from area businesses, which is enough to cover the 120 high
school students slated to take the upcoming classes, leaving
some extra money to cover other students who may be interested
as well. Classes are scheduled for the weekends of April 21-22,
28-29, and May 5-6, with the Saturday session focusing on the
Alive at 25 training and the Sunday session covering the
Defensive Driver segment. Professional driver safety program
instructor Manny Safer is slated to teach the classes.
The following is a list of the businesses that donated the funds
to pay for this training: Yellow Cab of Monticello, WSUL 98.3/WVOS
Country 95.5, Monticello Fire Department, Joseph N. Garlick
Funeral Home, Prestige Towing & Recovery, Marty’s Service
Center, The Project Dream Foundation, Sullivan County Crane,
Sullivan County Monuments, Sullivan County Democrat, Arthur
Glick Truck Sales, Monticello Police Benevolent Association,
Harris, Monti and McLaughlin Insurance Agency, Myrna Ginsberg
Realty, Mobilemedic EMS and Monticello Trading Post.
The Monticello Board of Education and district administrators
honored Kesten for his fundraising efforts and presented him
with a certificate of appreciation at the Board's March 29
meeting. Pictured left is Kesten with Superintendent of Schools
Dr. Patrick Michel. Above Kesten is pictured with Monticello
High School Assistant Principal Doug Murphy and some of the high
school students who plan to take the Alive at 25 and Driver
Safety training.
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