ACTEAZ News  President’s Letter

President’s Letter – Fall 2018
Submitted by Curt Bertelsen

Dear ACTEAZ Members,

School’s in session! Can you believe how quickly summer passed? I was so energized by the sessions at this summer’s conference, the great opportunities for networking, and just spending time with so many of you.

I cannot remember a time when so many positive things all came together in such a short time period. Let the following list of successes sink in for a moment:

• Teachers are seeing a long-overdue pay increase.
• JTED’s funding restored during this legislative session to 100% funding.
• Federal Perkins legislation passed with an increase in funding.
• The Leadership Continuum / AZ CTE LEADS is providing a forum for teachers, counselors, administrators and ambassadors. This is a uniquely Arizona initiative – under the leadership of Dr. John Mulcahy and an amazing team.
• The Arizona CTE Curriculum Consortium continues to provide an expanding library of excellent lessons and resources including Blueprints, Instructional Frameworks, under the leadership of Lisa Doll and Tammy Bonner.
• The Premier Series is providing excellent teacher training at WestMEC, Pima JTED, and in rural Arizona through ACTEAZ, plus a cadre of trainers is being developed in every corner of the state. We are truly “growing our own”.
• The Arizona Department of Education is firing on all cylinders under the capable leadership of Cathie Raymond and her amazing team of professionals.
• Students across the state are earning credentials at a rate we’ve never seen before.
• School districts and charter schools are falling in love with CTE as they see their school grades elevated as a result of students leaving high school College and Career Ready.
• Share-You Mentoring Program continues to build momentum.
• Global Pathways Institute continues to work toward multiple pathways for students.
• 1,100 CTE Professionals spent a week in Tucson participating in premier professional development.
• Five of the seven Region V winners were from Arizona and will represent Arizona at ACTE Visions in San Antonio this November.
• And on, and on

These are the “good old days” for Career and Technical Education in Arizona. The support of Business and Industry, the voting public, elected officials and parents is at a level we’ve never experienced. We must be vigilant to work both smart and hard to validate the trust that we’ve garnered. We must continue to innovate, improve, question, stretch and grow.

Finally, we must look to the future of the workforce. With the advent of Exponential Technologies and automation the jobs of the future will surely look very different. Many of our current jobs are here to stay, but many will be replaced with new and vastly different jobs. I encourage you to join us as we prepare for next summer’s conference where we will look to the future and start planning the CTE programs of tomorrow.

Have a wonderful start to the school year and may God bless you as serve students and our communities.

Sincerely,
Curt Bertelsen
2018 – 2019 ACTEAZ President