Thanks to a generous donation by the Port Jervis Rotary, Port Jervis High School students now have access to one of the most effective training tools for young, inexperienced teen drivers - the driving simulator. On Nov. 4, Port Jervis students and staff celebrated the installation of the driving simulator, which was orchestrated by the Not One More Safe Teen Driving initiative. 

Assistant Principal Andrew Marotta, who has been instrumental in spearheading the Not One More Safe Driving initiative in Port Jervis, participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony along with high school students, PJHS staff members, representatives from the Port Jervis Rotary (who donated approximately $10,000), as well as Craig W. Cherry, Deputy Commissioner of Emergency Services for Orange County and Mary Ann Wilson, Ed.D., Assistant Superintendent for Instruction at Orange-Ulster BOCES who serve as co-chairs of the Not One More Committee in Orange County.

The Not One More Program began in 2006 by the Times Herald-Record as a result of too many vehicular fatalities and injuries involving young people in the region. Since that time, several local agencies, working collaboratively, have brought attention to the tragedies through public forums, activities in the high schools, and the use of shared driving simulators for students to practice their driving skills.

The mission of the Not One More Committee is to develop comprehensive education programs that promote safe teen driving, such that not one more student is seriously injured or killed as a teen driver or passenger in a vehicle.

Staff members at Port Jervis have been trained on the simulator and have started working with students - primarily sophomores - who must use the simulator prior to receiving their school parking permit. 

Article reprinted from the Orange-Ulster BOCES Web site.