City Offers Summer 'Bootcamp' for Aspiring CTE Teachers

Local industries have agreed to train 100 city teachers this summer so that they can teach more career and technical education classes at their schools.

Noting that there are currently 300,000 jobs in the city's tech sector, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would love for local high school graduates to fill the industry.

"Imagine what it will mean for the young people of this city going forward if they can more and more get those great middle class jobs in the tech community," he said on Thursday, at the headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers

New York is among five communities receiving funds from the American Federation of Teachers to work with local business leaders on career and technical education opportunities. Classes in graphic arts software, automotive technology and education technology will be offered this summer through partnerships with Apple, Adobe and the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, which claims to have signed up 28 teachers alone.

Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, said superintendents around the country recognized the need for real certification programs that can help students land good jobs, but states have been hamstrung by the heavy focus on math and English tests in the era of No Child Left Behind. "The bureaucracy has been terrible," she said.

Her local counterpart, UFT president Michael Mulgrew, said local businesses have long agreed with city officials on the need to broaden career and technical education, but the state hasn't provided enough options. It's difficult to get new career programs quickly certified, he said, but  noted the state this year offered more flexibility in its graduation requirements.

Kathryn Wylde, president of the business group Partnership for New York City, said many employers have taken on interns and supported the city schools as a form of charity. But she said that has to change.

"This has to be employer self interest," she said. "We have to have a system that makes it easy and attractive for employers on the one hand, and on the other hand kids have to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel."