PEDRO -- Students at Rock Hill High School who want to take a driver's education course will get their education from an instructor through the American Automobile Association.

The school board voted unanimously Tuesday evening to pay AAA $199 to train each student who wants to receive the instruction.

Superintendent Lloyd Evans said driver's education courses no longer fall under the auspices of the Ohio Department of Education, but are now governed by the Ohio Department of Commerce. This means a driver's ed teacher employed by the district would have to have a different series of certifications.

Evans said many school districts discontinued driver's ed classes years ago. He estimated that 60 students a year sign up to take the class.

"They will provide a certified instructor, and the Ohio State Highway Patrol inspects their program regularly," Evans said.

Rock Hill High School Principal Steve Lambert expressed concern that some of the students who might want to take the class may not be able to afford the $199.

"Are we going to pay that for them?" board member Wanda Jenkins asked Evans. "If we can pay for it, fine. The kids should be our first concern."

Evans said the district would pick up the fee, noting that the cost of driver's ed had previously come out of school funds since the district paid a teacher to teacher a driver's ed class.

Also last night, a motion to give school officials one month to change the lettering on the exterior of the middle school building failed by a 3-2 vote. Rock Hill Middle School is housed in the former high school building. When the new high school was built, the middle school classes were moved there. Jenkins said the building has been in use for a year, but still has the old high school name on the outside while the new child development center already has lettering on its building and it isn't even open yet.

"I had a person call me and ask where the middle school was. They were looking for it and couldn't find it because it still says 'high school' on the building," Jenkins said.

Jenkins and board member Carl Large voted in favor of the motion; board members Jackie Harris, Richie Donohoe and Troy Hardy voted against the move.