EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — Education leaders and business officials gathered in downtown El Paso on Wednesday to spotlight how local school programs are preparing students to enter the workforce.

The city’s Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual State of Education and Workforce address, bringing together superintendents from El Paso-area school districts to answer questions about college and career readiness.

Canutillo Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Josue Borrego said the district has been growing its career and technical education offerings and expanding advanced academic pathways into earlier grades.

“We expanded our CTE program, we expanded our pathway to drop down advanced academics into our middle school,” Borrego said.

Borrego also emphasized the importance of helping students understand workplace expectations.

“Those students have to understand and learn what the nuance is on the job side,” he said. “They have to actually understand the hierarchy of structure, the organizational structure, and how things play out.”

Speaking to KFOX14/CBS4 on Wednesday, El Paso Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Brian Lusk pointed to the importance of teachers and the integration of Artificial Intelligence.

“I think it’s important to recognize that our teachers are the reason our kids are successful in schools, right, because our teachers do the work each and every day. So we’ve got to make sure we support our teachers, and we know AI is important, but AI doesn’t drive our work, it supports our work. And so, as we work to make our kids educated well. Part of that is doing it with a clear view of making sure we have programs and pathways in place that our kids aspire towards, and we advise them towards, so that they have a vision for their future,” Lusk said.

Local business officials said they are working on opportunities and initiatives with school districts to establish additional programs that help students gain professional experience.

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