Houston County Career Academy

Registration will be ONLINE again this year.  

To register your child for driver’s ed:

• Click on the Class Week that you want to register for. (Links will be located at the bottom of this page.)
• Complete the Google Form, and press submit.
• Once the Google Form is submitted, you will be prompted to pay via GoFan. Click on the appropriate link for county or noncounty payment.
• Once payment has been submitted, registration is complete.  You should receive an email copy of your registration answers from Google Forms as well as a confirmation receipt of payment from GoFan following submission to have for your records.

PLEASE NOTE:::::::

• We will only be accepting 25 students per class. Once we have received the maximum submissions for a class, the form will be turned off.  If you click on a week to register and are seeing the form is no longing receiving submissions or is not letting you complete the form, this means the class is full, and you should choose a different week.  
• We are not currently planning to start a wait list for any of the classes.  Once a class is full, it is full.  Should this change, it will be updated on this page of our website. 
• THESE CLASSES ARE NONREFUNDABLE! Please be sure of your dates at the time of registration, as we will be unable to offer a refund. 
• County students are required to take both the Drivers Education & the Health Education classes together.  More information about this is below. 
• Be sure to read through all of the Frequently Asked Questions on this page to stay informed on class dates, times, lunch procedures, and more. 

Course Costs:

• County Students – $100
• Non-County Students – $200

Class Dates:

Classroom days by session:

• FOR COUNTY STUDENTS ONLY!!!: Registation opens March 2^nd. 
  • Week 1 – June 1, 2, 3, & 4
  • Week 2 – June 8, 9, 10, & 11
  • Week 3 – June 15, 16, 17, & 22 (please note the split dates on this week!)
  • Week 4 – July 6, 7, 8, & 9
• FOR NON-COUNTY STUDENTS ONLY!!!: Registration opens April 6^th.  
  • These class dates will not be released until mid-March, and the links will not be live until April 6^th at 8:00 am.  

Classroom Information:

• Students will meet at HCCA the first 4 days of the class from 8:00 am until 4:00 pm.
• Once the initial classroom days are completed, students will only be required to return to campus 2-3 days during the remainder of the month. These days are considered "driving days" and will be assigned by the instructor by the end of the fourth classroom day.
• County Students will be required to also complete the Health component of drivers education.  Please see the accordion tab labeled “Health Component” for more information on this. 

Lunch:

• Students are responsible for making arrangements for/or bringing lunch/snack each day.
  • They can bring lunch, have lunch delivered, or someone can pick them up to go eat lunch.  But students ARE NOT allowed to WALK OFF of campus.
  • We do have a refrigerator and microwave for those that may need it.
  • Lunch will be at approximately 11:30 daily and typically last 50 minutes. Students should confirm with their teacher before going to get lunch at what time the class will reconvene.

• The health component will be required to be completed on Edgenuity.
• Students will be able to access it through Classlink.
• It will be open from June 1^st – July 17^th.
• Students will need to check out a chromebook for this class, which they can begin doing starting on June 1^st at the school they are currently enrolled at.   
• More information will be sent through ParentSquare after registration.
• You may email Mr. Bill Lovrich with any questions at wlovrich@hcboe.us.

County Students are students that are currently enrolled in one of the following Houston County School system schools:

• Ashford High School
• Cottonwood High School
• Houston County High School
• Houston County Virtual Academy
• Rehobeth High School
• Wicksburg High School

Non-County students are students that are enrolled in any other school that is not mentioned above.

• This can be private schools, homeschool, or schools in other school districts. 

We understand that schedules change and new plans emerge as summer approaches.

• If you need to cancel your spot in the drivers ed class:
  • Either call the front office at 334-899-3308 or email Mrs. Turvin at turvin.heather@hcboe.us to start the cancellation process.
  • Please keep in mind the registration fee is NON-REFUNDABLE.
• If you are wanting to change dates:
  • Due to the popular nature of this class, we are unable to accommodate class changes.  
  • If the week you signed up for no longer works for your schedule, please reach out to Mrs. Turvin at the email address listed above to request a cancellation. 
    • Keep in mind that the registration fee is NON-REFUNDABLE. 

Some insurance companies require a certificate of completion before your student can be added to your insurance or in order to receive a discount on your insurance.   Certificates are typically provided to each student at the end of their driver’s ed course, but should you need another one for any reason, please feel free to email turvin.heather@hcboe.us or jernigan.shalane@hcboe.us.

To receive your license, you may either print it off at home or call the state trooper’s office to schedule an appointment.  Whichever method you prefer, the steps below are how to procede:

• Students no longer receive a paper gold card, as the state has adapted an online/virtual gold card instead. 
• If/when the driver skills test is passed, the student can either go online to renew their license or go to the State Trooper's office. However, it will have to be on a week day and may take 24-48 hours AFTER the student's birthday for the information to be updated into the system. This simply means that, due to the new online system, most students are not recognized by the state to receive their driver's license until the day after their 16th birthday, or that their information will still show a "y" restriction. In order to receive their license, the "y" restriction will need to be removed by the state.
• Steps to see if the "y" restriction is lifted and license is ready to print (or system is up to date at the Trooper's office):
  • Go to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency website.
  • Click "Renew License"
  • Enter all information and submit
  • Make sure "y" restriction is gone
  • If "y" restriction is gone, then the system is up to date, and you can print your new dirver's license OR go to the State Trooper's office to get it. HOWEVER, if the "y" restriction is still listed, their system has not been updated and it may take 24-48 hours to be lifted, so keep checking.

Printable steps

ALEA.gov website

PLEASE READ THE RED PARAGRAPH BELOW TO UNDERSTAND MORE ABOUT THE DRIVER'S ED CLASS AND OUR HCCA CAMPUS:
We understand that there is a great need for Driver’s Education in our area, unfortunately, there is no way that we as just one school can accommodate every student in our Wiregrass area that need it. The Houston County Career Academy is the Career Technical Center for the Houston County School System.  This is where students in the HCS system come to take hands-on educational classes such as Health Science, Automotive, Engineering, etc. for two class periods of their school day. We are not a driving school.  During the school year, driver’s education is taught on the campus of our 5 main base schools (Ashford, Cottonwood, Houston County, Rehobeth, and Wicksburg) as a class on the students' schedules.  The county chooses to offer driver’s education classes during the summer at our office location in order to serve their students and parents with a more central location for all that may need it. 

The driver’s education classes offered on our campus are offered first to our county students in order to accommodate as many of our students as possible that may not have had the opportunity in their schedule during the school year to take the class.  Once our county students have been given time to register, the county then opens up registration to all other students in the Wiregrass area, whether they go to a private school, are in another school system, or are homeschooled. 

Driver’s Ed takes a lot of manpower, and we are grateful to all those who extend such grace, patience, and understanding with us during the registration process. While we wish that we could accommodate everyone in this area, please understand we are just one school as a host location and our resources are limited. Between an instructor shortage AND our building having many other meetings and obligations occurring during the summer semester outside of driver education, it just isn’t feasible.  Thank you again for your understanding, and we look forward to serving you at registration this year!