Management Services Now Offers Teaching Certification

CVES is now offering teacher certification services to prospective candidates and its 16 component school districts.

The CVES Regional Certification Office functions as an extension of the New York State Education Department Office of Teaching Initiatives. The State Education Department has authorized this office to evaluate the credentials of applicants and recommend certification for most New York State certificate titles.

When there are certification-related inquiries, CVES and its talented staff helps ensure individuals know the proper action steps needed for certification.

CVES once had a Regional Certification Office, but it dissolved after some staffing changes. Since then, CVES had cross-contracted with Capital Region BOCES out of Albany to provide certification services.

Now, the helping hand of CVES has returned.

Thanks to the coordination support of CVES District Superintendent Dr. Mark Davey, the Regional Certification Office became a reality. His discussions with State Education led to SED supporting CVES starting an RCO and providing training for the service to start.

When Joe Coakley took over as Director of Labor Relations for CVES, he quickly realized that there was a need for the service to be provided by someone local who has a deep familiarity with our rural school districts.

Coakley said Cap Region BOCES’ team did a phenomenal job serving our region, but CVES had the capacity to offer a more local resource that lends already-existing knowledge of the component districts and their needs.

Coakley worked with Assistant Superintendent of Management Services Dr. Eric Bell to figure out what was possible and, along with his team, the group developed a plan for creating a Regional Certification Office at CVES.

Coakley has been training for the last year-and-a-half to learn the ins and outs of certifications. The CVES certification portal launched in April, and he officially announced to Chief School Officers of the 16 school districts in the CVES region that the Regional Certification Office is open for business.

Though Coakley now has the title of Regional Certification Officer, he said it’s truly a team effort.

“For any Co-Ser to be successful, it truly takes a village,” Coakley said. “Without the help of Personnel Specialist Laura Sterling and Labor Specialist Chrysa Rabideau, it would be nearly impossible to have gotten this up and running.”

Sterling and Rabideau are working with Coakley to field inquiries, and help people find and navigate the website for the Office of Teaching Initiatives, as well as assisting in the processing of some applications.

Summer is an incredibly busy time for application processing, with college students completing school programs and school districts trying to place new hires in all their open positions. The crew hit the ground running, and they’ve been staying busy with this new Co-Ser.

Coakley acknowledges that it was a lot to take on, but he says it just made sense for CVES to take on this work. As someone who started teaching in the classroom and has held a variety of positions since then, including coach, dean of students, assistant principal, and principal, Coakley said this is a full-circle experience that lets him work with individuals just getting into the profession.

He knows the certification process can be stressful, and he appreciates being able to
help guide people on the right pathways.

Bell agrees that this development is an important step for CVES and its component districts.

“Given the challenges and shortages in certified staff in our region, throughout the state and nation, having local support for the certification process to help our future educators move through the challenging process of certification is critical to meeting our goals and mission to serving the students of the North Country,” Bell said.

Read more from our Annual Report here.