For Driver Education classes, scroll to the bottom.
Request for Driver Eligibility Certificate (DEC), THIS IS NOT FOR ENROLLING IN DRIVER'S ED. DEC Eligibility is based on your most recent report card and current grades (you must be passing 75% of your classes), please consider this before your request.
When DECs are picked up, a parent or guardian must sign it and retrieve it between 9:oo and 15:00. Don't forget that NC has a law stating that your student must be passing 75% of their classes in order to be eligible for a NC Driver's License. The DEC is only valid for 30 days from the date when you signed for it at pickup, DECs are usually issued once per semester. This means that you need to have your DMV meetings scheduled.
Parents,
Please visit NCDMV and familiarize yourself with what you need to satisfy all of their requirements to get your child driving and to continue driving. Academic eligibility continues until the child graduates from High School or has obtained a GED. If you dropout or transfer to some other educational institute then the ability to prove your eligibility will shift with you.
Driving Privileges
In North Carolina, students under 18 can lose their driver's license if they:
Drop out of school;
Fail to make adequate progress;
Commit certain offenses resulting in suspension.
Dropout Prevention/Driver's License legislation
North Carolina House Bill 769 became effective December 1, 1997, and reflects a coordinated statewide effort to motivate and encourage students to complete high school. This legislation requires that a student's driving permit or license be revoked if a student is unable to maintain adequate progress or drops out of school. Adequate progress is defined as passing 70% of all courses and is determined by first semester grades and second-semester grades for schools on block scheduling. For schools on a traditional six-period day schedule, grades are determined by first semester grades and end-of-year grades.
In rare cases, there may be circumstances beyond the control of the student or his/her parents that qualify as a hardship. If a hardship exists, the student may request a waiver. If the waiver is granted, the student would not be affected by the legislation. Hardship cases are rare and are reserved for extreme situations. The Hardship Review Forms is available at your school or can be downloaded and printed from the link at right.
Lose Control, Lose Your License legislation
North Carolina Senate Bill 57, which became effective July 1, 2000, requires that a student's driving permit or license be revoked for one year if a student is given a suspension for more than 10 consecutive days or an assignment to an alternative educational setting for more than 10 consecutive days for one of the following reasons:
4. The possession or sale of an alcoholic beverage or an illegal controlled substance on school property.
5. The possession or use on school property of a weapon or firearm that resulted in disciplinary action under G.S. 115C-391 (d1) or that could have resulted in that disciplinary action if the conduct had occurred in a public school.
6. The physical assault on a teacher or other school personnel on school property.
School property is the physical premises of the school, school buses or other vehicles under the school's control or contract that are used to transport students, and school-sponsored or school-related activities that occur on or off the physical premises of the school.
Students who are at least 14 years old or who were rising 8th graders on or after July 1, 2000, are subject to this law. Students who are 18 years old cannot be charged under this law.
Unlike the "Dropout Prevention/Driver's License" law that only affects students under the age of 18, the "Lose Control" law does not stop at age 18. It is possible for a student to have his or her license suspended as a 17-and-a-half-year-old and not be eligible to drive for a full calendar year, reaching 18-and-a-half before again being eligible to drive.
Hardship Request Information
Frequently Asked Questions
Registration opens:
🗓️ September 10, 2025 at 6:00 PM (18:00)
⏳ Closes when full
The registration link for the Fall 2025 session of Driver Education will be posted here once it goes live at 6:00 PM on September 10, 2025. If there is no active link below at that time, the class is full and you’ll need to wait until the Spring session, typically held during the first two full weeks of March.
✅ Confirmation of Registration:
If you successfully registered, you will see a message stating "Your response was recorded" and receive a confirmation email with a copy of your responses.
⚠️ Important Notes on Registration:
Registration forms will be closed once the class fills — unless there is a technical issue.
If a technological issue prevents the form from closing in time and the class becomes overfilled, students and parents will be notified the following day if they’ve been waitlisted.
The form is set to record your email and only allows one registration per email.
Use your NHCS student email address to register (this helps avoid confusion with students who have similar names).
Private or homeschool students may use a different email, but still only one submission is allowed per student.
⏳ You will have about 5 minutes to complete the form, so have the following ready:
Full legal name of the student
Student birthdate
Student ID number (NHCS students). Homeschool/private school students can enter: 111111
Grade level
Parent/Guardian name
Physical address (Street, City, ZIP code)
Parent/Guardian phone number and email
Student NHCS email address (exception: homeschool/private school students)
Be ready to answer the following questions:
Is the student served by an IEP or 504 Plan?
Does the student have any medical, physical, or cognitive conditions?
If yes, please describe (e.g., brain injury, visual deficits not corrected by glasses, muscle spasms/tremors, shortened or missing limb, etc.)
Students must bring their birth certificate to the instructor within the first two days of class.
Students must be at least 14.5 years old on the first day of class (October 13, 2025).
This means the student must have been born on or before April 13, 2011.
Attendance is mandatory for all class days.
Students must:
Complete 30 hours of classroom instruction
Complete all assignments on time
Participate in discussions and activities
Non-participation or incomplete work will result in failure. There is no grace period for missed assignments.
Any student who is disruptive or fails to follow basic rules will be dismissed from the course, which will count as a failure.
The course fee is $65.
Payment is due by 5:00 PM (close of business) on September 30, 2025.
Students who do not pay by this deadline will be removed from the course.
No additional payment reminders will be sent.
The link to signup for DE classes below: (Link will be active at 18:00 on 10-Sep-2025 and will close when filled). Classes are in person on AHS campus (students cannot miss class sessions). The registration form will close after 24 hours if it doesn't fill. There are no other classes scheduled until the county schedules more classes. Spring 2026 class is tentatively scheduled to register on 11-Feb-2026 at 6pm.
Session #1: 13-Oct-2025 through 24-Oct-2025 15:50-18:50 (24-30 seats) Filled at 18:??
Driver Education Instructors:
Kyle Hodnett: Ashley High School Site Coordinator: Classroom and Driving Instructor kyle.hodnett@nhcs.net AHS
Floyd Benfield: Classroom and Driving Instructor floyd.benfield@nhcs.net Retired staff from AHS
Brian Collis: Classroom and Driving Instructor brian.collis@nhcs.net AHS
Ryan Hauck: Classroom and Driving Instructor ryan.hauck@nhcs.net Central Office
Toby Kasell: Instructor toby.kasell@nhcs.net AHS
Amanda Penegar: Instructor amanda.penegar@nhcs.net AHS
Ashaad Yeoman: Classroom and Driving Instructor ashaad.yeoman@nhcs.net AHS
John Giddo: Classroom Instructor john.giddo@nhcs.net Myrtle Grove Middle School