Jason Goodrich started an online petition<\/a> calling for expanded trade programs in Duval County schools. <\/p>\nDistrict leaders have since invited News4JX to tour their career and technology campuses for a firsthand look at what is already available to students.<\/p>\n
District opens doors<\/p>\n
Goodrich, who first reached out to News4JAX about the issue weeks earlier, was not able to attend the tour in person. However, district leaders and students walked the News4JAX team through several programs at A. Philip Randolph Career Academies, with a special focus on welding and carpentry \u2014 the areas Goodrich is most passionate about.<\/p>\n
Charles Lyles, of A. Philip Randolph Career Academies, described how the district is working to ensure Career and Technical Education, or CTE, is accessible at every high school.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter which school you go to, they all have at least a few CTE offerings there. And if the CTE offering that the student is interested in is not necessarily at their neighborhood high school, they can then decide that they want to become a magnet student and come either here to A. Philip Randolph Career Academies,\u201d Lyles said. \u201cWe take students from all over the district, or to our sister school, Frank H. Peterson.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lyles says there are currently 21,000 students enrolled in CTE programs across Duval County.<\/p>\n
Students put skills to work<\/p>\n
Inside the carpentry program, students are already doing hands-on construction work. CTE carpentry student Joseph Bernier showed off the progress his class has made.<\/p>\n
CTE programs available countywide include cosmetology, aviation and fire rescue, among others. For CTE firefighting student Rashad Brewster, the program has already given him a head start.<\/p>\n
Student partaking in the Welding Class at A. Philip Randolph Career Academies (Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
CTE cosmetology instructor Toya Alston says the program gives students a direct path to a career \u2014 and a license to go with their diploma.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favorite part is the fact that we can impart the information that we know as professionals into the students, and then they can go out into society and become a productive citizen,\u201d Alston said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have to leave here and just wander. They can leave here with not only their diploma, but they can also apply their licensure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finding common ground<\/p>\n
Duval County CTE Director Jill Fierle says the conversation with Goodrich helped illustrate both the progress that has been made and the work still ahead.<\/p>\n
Goodrich joined the tour via video call and said he felt encouraged \u2014 and ready to help spread the word.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I\u2019m going to do my part to help get it out there to people that don\u2019t understand,\u201d Goodrich said.<\/p>\n
Fierle made clear the partnership is just getting started.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be in touch. This isn\u2019t over,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
District leaders say they will continue to adjust programs based on community feedback and workforce needs.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville TikTok influencer\u2019s push for more trade programs in local schools is gaining…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[99348,99347,1038,113,116,118,117,99346,5436,99349],"class_list":["post-218775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-career-and-technical-education","tag-cte","tag-duval-county-public-schools","tag-education","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jason-goodrich","tag-morning-show","tag-trade-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}