In mid-November, Utica University held an open house for the apprenticeship teacher certification. With the urgent demand for teachers throughout New York state, the university’s apprenticeship program allows a teacher candidate to obtain a Transition B certification to begin teaching at entry levy positions at area middle and high schools. This certification is contingent upon them completing their master’s program.

Richard Moon is a retired public education teacher and now an adjunct professor at Utica University and coordinator of the Transition B program.

Transition B is a New York State Education Program and Utica University is one of the few providers in the state.

“It’s been around for many years but it kind of went away maybe 10 years ago because there wasn’t a need for it," Moon said. "There was actually an oversupply of teachers.”  

Moon says within the past decade, there has been a severe nationwide, region-wide shortage of teachers.

“What the Transition B Program does for the candidates who enroll is it provides a five-year, temporary certification while they teach and complete the program," Moon said.

The unique thing about this program is that it is moving completely online.

“We are the only provider within a 100-mile radius of this campus that can offer the candidate immediate certification to begin teaching in year one," Moon said.

Moon says they are already seeing an increase in enrollment, especially because they can reach candidates in rural areas.

“With us, they’re hired by the district, they enroll in the program, they start their course work, and they are certified the day they walk in the classroom," Moon said.

Being a previous educator in the Whitesboro City School District for 30-plus years, he says education has changed and one of the main causes for the shortage is due to retirements.

“The latest data I see it probably close to 50% of public-school teachers in New York state are eligible to retire within the next five years," Moon said.

Halle Feane, who doubled majored in business administration and public health at Hartwick College, has transitioned into the education field and is now a certified teaching assistant in Little Falls City School District.

“Building those relationships with those students, with the teachers, with the administration [is] important," Feane said. "They need it. It’s from the COVID pandemic.”  

She says applying for the Transition B program puts her closer to a lifelong passion of hers.

"It’s so essential because they’re little, they’re young kids that need that exposure and they need that teacher in the room to teach them and I’m happy I get to be a part of that," Feane said.