Like high schools statewide, Oak Lawn Community High School is in desperate need of teachers specializing in career and technical education. So much so, that the district recently sent an SOS to media outlets saying, “We are desperately trying to fill a job position.”
The south suburban school is even offering to help candidates qualify for the jobs, encouraging people with 8,000 or more hours of work experience in construction, automotive, graphic design or related fields to obtain an alternate career and technical education, or CTE, teaching certificate.
These teachers ordinarily need at least 60 semester hours and a minimum of 2,000 hours of experience in the designated subject area.
“This has been an area of need for a long time,” said Jeana Lietz, principal of Oak Lawn Community High School. “It’s just becoming a more serious problem because these classes are growing and the state is pushing us to think about career readiness.
“That’s what led us to our most recent posting. … The state realizes this is an area of need, as well, so will offer this alternative certification.” said
Lietz said her district has four full time CTE teachers but one is transferring to a different school.
Illinois now expects 90% of high school students to be college or career ready by 2032, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
But that puts school districts in a quandary when they can’t find the new hires.
CTE courses at Oak Lawn include graphic design, woodworking, electronics, automotive and engineering. It’s part of a national Project Lead the Way program that offers four years of engineering classes in an effort to draw students into that field.
Lietz said only a handful of colleges offer CTE as a major, and some still think of this curriculum as vocational. But many students who plan to attend college also benefit from the courses, she said.
“Maybe there’s this stigma attached to what these courses are,” said Lietz.
The need is also great at Bremen High School District 228, which has 32 CTE teachers across its four schools and recently filled two open positions. Their courses include business, industrial tech and family and consumer science.
April Nykaza, career and technology supervisor at the district, said during her last seven years the problem has become worse.
“Part of our issue is that if we need an instructional technology teacher, there may be someone who has that experience but not in the right area of industrial technology,” Nykaza said. “Some can teach woodworking or metals but don’t have automotive experience. That’s where it gets tricky.”
Nykaza said CTE teachers often remain in districts long term, so new candidates have not always had an easy time finding openings. Financially strapped districts also may opt to cut elective courses first.
“The other part of it is that we have a gentleman plumber who is now teaching industrial technology and he can make a lot more money as a plumber than teacher,” Nykaza said. “In the field of education, many teachers are taking a lot of work home with them every night, so there’s extra work involved.”
But Nykaza pointed out that students need a well-rounded education, which includes these courses.
“We’re also teaching life skills and they also help the students find a niche they didn’t know they were interested in,” she said.
CTE courses, which reinforce skills such as time management and collaboration, are also important for local manufacturing and the local economy, according to Reggie Greenwood, director of Governors State University’s Supply Chain Innovation Center and Business Incubator. Greenwood works with a collaboration of organizations, including local community colleges, a workforce group, GSU and high schools.
More Top Picks Best Gazebos
“We went and asked them (manufacturers) what are the impediments to growing our local economy,” said Greenwood. “They said, ‘a skilled workforce.’
“There is a driving force in the region for these kinds of skills sets … many of them come through the CTE program.”
Back at Oak Lawn Community High School, recent graduate Allan McAlpine found a career through the Project Lead the Way CTE program — one he couldn’t imagine getting from a regular curriculum. His courses included principles of engineering with robotics and complex mechanics, as well as computer servicing, civil engineering, architecture and consumer education. As a senior he helped invent a device to help people in wheelchairs with a limited range of motion reach and pick up heavy or hard-to-reach objects.
“It’s really important for individuals, especially myself, to be a part of these programs, as they teach students how the world works,” McAlpine said. “In the end, the program … has taught me many different ways and ideals that I’ll use not only in everyday life but in my future profession.”
McAlpine, who will be attending Purdue University Northwest, plans to study mechanical engineering and mechatronics and later work in the aerospace industry.
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.