depends on how you configured the search criteria in the data assist wizard.
the criteria for a column can be configured using the "=", "begins with", "includes", or "ends with" comparison.
if you set the comparison to "=", it will only find the school if you enter the full name.
It also depends on the filter type you use.
it sounds to me like you have the criteria set to use the "=" comparison and the value filter type. this will convert the search string:
'driving, debbie'
to:
WHERE school = 'driving, debbie'
if you select the keyword filter type, you can set an AND separator and an OR separator.
from your description of how you want the search to work, you should be using the "Includes" comparison, the keyword filter type and you should set the OR separator to ", " (thats a comma followed by a space). this will convert the search string:
'driving, debbie'
to:
WHERE school LIKE '%driving%' OR school LIKE '%debbie%'
to give the desired results.