What's happened to the shop teachers?

The latest computers, sleekest cell phones and fastest cars may get teenagers excited -- and even inspire some to take a technology class.

Years ago, it was called "shop." It's not mandated in high schools in New York State, but some schools do offer it.

The only problem is they're having a hard time finding teachers to lead those classes. That's why some school districts like Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk were forced to aggressively recruit tech teachers.

"It's been a situation of going out and recruiting candidates for the district, and really that's been a very arduous process for us," said RCS principal Hakim Jones.

Jones says he did manage to find two good candidates, though. One is Scott Peck from SUNY Oswego, who recalls, "they actually went up to Oswego and actually had to find people to come down here for the job."

Shelly Bevan, another tech teacher, is from Saint Rose and agreed people in the profession are difficult to come by, especially because there are only three schools in the state offering tech-teaching programs.

Those schools with a technology education program, which trains teachers like Shelly and Scott, teach a lot more than the basics, according to Scott: "You have everything from communication systems to manufacturing systems to pre-engineering to technical drawing and auto cad."

It's something Principal Jones says students have grown more interested in: "That's what prompted us to go out and actively recruit candidates to come into our district, We've noticed more students who want to get involved, who want to understand basically what they're gonna be facing in the future."