Male teachers rare in lower grades

By KEVIN WACK, Portland Press Herald Writer

Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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	photo Hartford- Sumner Elementary School teacher Chris Galgay shares a laugh with 9-year-old Kelly Rose and her third-grade classmates last week. Galgay is the only male teacher in the school.
	The New Gender Gap "The New Gender Gap" is a series of articles exploring how boys lag behind girls in Maine schools. Read the full series. Download the draft report of the state's Task Force on Gender Equity in Education. Let Us Know E-mail your thoughts about this series to boys@pressherald.com or post a comment on our Reader Comments page. To top of story

SUMNER — The third-graders in Chris Galgay's class have absorbed a fun lesson since last fall: Under the right circumstances, their teacher is OK with being teased. During a visit to their classroom last week, the kids cracked jokes about Galgay's balding head and his affection for Barney, the purple TV dinosaur. For a few minutes it sounded like a Friars Club roast featuring 9-year-old comedians.

Galgay, 53, took the barbs in the playful spirit in which they were intended. As the only male teacher at Hartford-Sumner Elementary School - and until recently, the only man working in the school - he's accustomed to being singled out.

"Everybody that works in this building - probably 45 people - I was the only male," Galgay recalled.

Statewide, just 17 percent of elementary and middle-school teachers are men, according to statistics from the Maine Department of Education. In more than two dozen Maine school districts - generally in rural areas like here in western Maine - the students won't have a single male teacher until at least ninth grade.

There is growing concern in Maine and across the country that boys are falling behind girls in the classroom, and that boys who tune out in elementary school are less likely to attend college. In the University of Maine system, men currently earn only 38 percent of all bachelor's degrees. Given the academic struggles of boys, some educators believe a greater effort should be made to attract men to the classroom. That will be an uphill battle, though.

The average Maine teacher earns about $41,000. Despite the rise in two-income families, many husbands are still expected to bring home the bigger paycheck. Men who teach elementary school also encounter stereotypes that women are more nurturing, and fears that men are dangerous around young children.

"The younger the kids, the fewer the men," said Bryan Nelson, founder of a Minneapolis-based recruitment program for male teachers.

While other professions have been closing the male-female gap, teaching has generally headed in the opposite direction.

Nationally, the percentage of male teachers reached a 40-year low in 2001 before climbing back up a bit. About one out of four U.S. public school teachers in 2003-2004 was male, according to a report from the National Education Association. Maine was somewhat above the national average, with men accounting for 27 percent of all public school teachers.

Teachers pushing for higher salaries say that pay raises would attract more men to the field, and state-by-state statistics support this theory. Among the 10 states with the highest percentages of male teachers, eight were in the top half of states in teacher compensation, according to the National Education Association.

But there are clearly other reasons that men are choosing different jobs. In Maine, male teachers earn virtually the same salaries no matter whether they teach grades K-8 or grades 9-12, yet at the high school level the male-female split is much smaller - 47 percent to 53 percent - than in the lower grades.

Nick Wilson, who teaches preschool at Ocean House Child Development Center in Cape Elizabeth, can understand why men might be discouraged from becoming teachers. He believes attitudes are changing. But even now, when he tells people what he does for a living, some ask if he's gay.

"I just think it's going to take more time," Wilson said.

Galgay, who grew up in Massachusetts, took a nontraditional path to the classroom. He held blue-collar jobs before becoming a school bus driver, where he realized how much he enjoyed working with kids. Then in his 30s, he decided to go back to school to become a teacher.

He recalls the apprehension he encountered when he began teaching elementary school kids.

"Some of them were scared when they came in the first day," Galgay said. "Some of the parents were scared."

Galgay eventually married a fellow teacher, and he's now been at the same Oxford County school for 14 years.

"I think it's been absolutely wonderful for the kids," said Sherry Woodcock, a fourth-grade teacher at the school. "It gives them a male role model."

Last week, a cold drizzle fell outside the classroom window while a small group of third-graders gathered in a semi-circle around their popular teacher.

Galgay wore black jeans, a yellow polo shirt and glasses. He spoke with an accent that revealed his New England upbringing.

The students took turns reading aloud, and when Galgay posed questions, they eagerly raised their hands to answer. Around the room, other kids worked quietly on reading and writing assignments.

While Galgay never once raised his voice, he had complete control of the classroom. In a note of self-deprecation, he said, "They're not usually this quiet all the time."

In addition to his classroom duties, Galgay is vice president of the Maine Education Association, and he's running to become president of organization. As the union's president, he'd like to raise awareness about Maine's shortage of male teachers.

"It's not getting better, it's getting worse," he said.

Staff Writer Kevin Wack can be contacted at 282-8226 or at:

kwack@pressherald.com