Lee County presents expansion plan for CTE and a 490-member business‑partner inventory
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Summary
District CTE leaders told the board they have cataloged about 490 relationships with business partners across high schools, tech colleges and the department and outlined goals to secure at least one active partner per academy by June 2027 and three by 2029.
District career-technical education leaders described a multi-pronged plan to strengthen business partnerships, expand program offerings and scale work‑based learning across Lee County schools.
Associate Superintendent Ed Matthews, Director Brent Breidenkamp and Clayton Simmons said the district has cataloged relationships and contributions from business partners into a new internal database designed to match schools and academies with local employers and to make strategic recruiting easier.
Breidenkamp said the audit of partnerships showed 164 high-school relationships, 275 tech-college and apprenticeship relationships, and 51 department-level engagements—a total the presenters described as 490 distinct relationships when counting different types of engagement separately.
New program highlights included a 3‑D digital design cluster at North Fort Myers, an infusion of cybersecurity programming at Fort Myers, and an aviation mechanics program at Bonita Springs funded through a CAP grant. Presenters said the district is pursuing work‑based learning, internships, job-shadowing and a planned "medical signing day" with Lee Health to celebrate students entering the workforce.
Board members asked how to recruit partners and suggested listing partners publicly on the district website. Presenters said the internal database currently is not public, but the district intends to create a public business‑partner page with stories and recognition as an incentive for engagement.
Staff asked board members to help recruit local business leaders and to use a QR code being distributed to direct potential partners to the district team.
