Another 500 students are affected by the simultaneous closing of the Automatic Driving Schools in Dallas, Richardson and Mesquite, also owned by the Rockwall school owner.

The TEA and Dallas Better Business Bureau list two different Rockwall men, Brian Weast and Eric Panik, as the schools’ owners.

Acccording to a report in the Dallas Morning News, Weast said he sold the school, plus three locations of Automatic Driving School to Panik in May, 2009. Automatic has been in business since 1993.

The Rockwall school is located at 2455 Ridge Rd. , in the shopping center behind Culver’s. It is not listed as a member of the Rockwall Chamber of Commerce.

Weast did not return calls yesterday, and their websites are no longer online.

According to TEA spokeswoman Suzanne Marchman, state officials have now taken custody of student records from the schools and the agency plans to  send letters to parents verifying students’ learning credits. The agency also will determine what refunds may be in order for students and parents who paid hundreds of dollars in tuition.

She said the school’s owner didn’t even call the agency to announce the closing. State officials were notified by an employee.

Now everybody just wants to know what happened and why the schools closed so suddenly.