Endangered Species

Male educators, especially at the elementary school level, are a shrinking minority — and for understandable reasons, including the fear of being accused of abuse. But classrooms may need men now more than ever.

By Kellie Rowden-Racette

Although there are plenty of desks in Pete Villa’s 4th grade classroom, his 16 students are sitting in pairs on the linoleum floor. Each pair is equipped with a marble, a ruler, and a piece of carpeting. Propping their rulers against books, the students roll their marbles down the rulers and onto the carpet pieces, to see how a change in incline affects velocity and distance.

“Does everybody have everything they need?” Villa asks.

A warm May breeze blows through the classroom at Cumberland Head Elementary School in Plattsburgh, New York. Part of the Beekmantown district, Cumberland Head serves 500-plus kids in a rural area in the state’s northeastern corner. Villa’s brightly colored room is cluttered with projects that have been accumulating since the beginning of the school year. Signs hanging near the blackboard read “YOU are responsible for your own actions!” and “Attitude is a little thing that...