This is one of the items I wanted Chatham Schools to work harder at doing.
Hunt is on for more men to lead classrooms
Read entire story at
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2008/11/18/hunt_is_on_for_more_men_to_lead_classrooms/MALDEN - If it didn't run afoul of employment laws, principal Thomas DeVito would consider taking out the following newspaper advertisement: "Wanted: Male teachers."
At his Ferryway School, where boys slightly outnumber girls, male teachers are a rare species, presiding over only four of the 35 classrooms.
"The district has a job fair every year, but we don't see a lot of guys," DeVito said.
The problem is especially acute, he said, when it comes to hiring elementary teachers at his school, which spans kindergarten through eighth grade. For those jobs, he said, "I don't think I've interviewed any males in the last five or six years."
The same scenario is playing out across the state and the nation, where the number of male teachers is dwindling despite a recent focus on drawing more men into classrooms. In Massachusetts, only 24 percent of teachers last year were men compared with 32 percent 15 years ago, according to the most recent state data. Nationally, a quarter of teachers are men, a 40-year low.
