A New Barbering Program Answers High Demand

     

The Newest CTE Offering to Train Young Barbers

A year or so ago, David Biviano had never envisioned himself as a teacher. He was a barber and business owner first and loved it, but there were certainly lessons he believed were worth teaching.

During his career to that point, Mr. Biviano had observed young barbers fresh out of barber school who understood haircutting techniques but little else.

“I was tired of going to barbershops and running into the same issues: Poor customer service and poor work ethic,” he said.

So when two SWBOCES employees who were Mr. Biviano’s clients encouraged him to apply, he agreed. Less than a year later, Biviano has found a new home at the Center for Career Services, which began a Barbering program for the first time this school year.

“I felt that by coming here and becoming a teacher, I could teach those those important skills to new barbers and help turn things around, so to speak,” he said.

Mr. Biviano has teaching in his genes. His mother worked as a school teacher and supervisor of special education in the Bronx for more than 25 years and had always encouraged him to pursue teaching. At the Center for Career Services, school districts and parents had encouraged administrators in recent years to create a Barbering program, which has become popular at other school districts in Westchester County. In fact, Mr. Biviano himself participated in the internship program through PNW BOCES, which sent students to log state-required class hours at his shop in Ossining.

“We had plenty of requests,” CTE director Dahlia Jackson said. “We just had to see how viable it would be for us to offer a Barbering program.”

The school’s new offering will teach first-year students this school year before it grows into a two-year program beginning in the fall of 2025. The course will follow the state’s barbering curriculum, which Mr. Biviano said is similar but more detailed than what students are offered at professional barber schools.

“This is a lot more training than I received at the schools I paid for,” he said.

Students are required to learn different haircutting techniques with both scissors and clippers. They’ll also be taught hair coloring, straight-edge shaving, skin treatments, and scalp treatments, in addition to the latest sterilizing and sanitization methods that allow a barber to perform those tasks cleanly and safely.

Mr. Biviano, who will still maintain and work three days at week at his own barbershop in Ossining, will also instruct students on handling finances and practicing proper customer service.

The latter had been a strong suit of his, according to Eileen Yip, the school social worker. After having her hair cut and styled for years in lower Manhattan, Yip became a client of Biviano’s in recent years. She and Mike McGee, who was a school safety officer at the time, both encouraged Biviano, suggesting he had the background and demeanor to run the program.

“He definitely has all of those strengths,” Yip said. “He’s shown it with everything he has accomplished already.”

Mr. Biviano only started cutting hair in 2011, shortly after graduating both college and barber school. He opened his own shop just five years later and hopes the new Barbering program will inspire a new generation of barbers to follow suit.

Once Barbering students complete 500 classroom hours during the two-year program, they will be eligible to take a state exam and graduate with a Master Barber License.

“I love cutting hair,” Mr. Biviano said. “I love what I do. I love going to my shop, but this is a priority. I’m excited to see what happens and hopefully we will turn out some well-educated, experienced and qualified young barbers.”