Nearly 50 years ago, Peter Flaherty – a relatively new fifth-grade teacher in Saco – marched into his classroom with a jar of peanut butter, a loaf of bread and a butter knife.

More about that in a moment.

Today, Flaherty, 77, just won re-election for a third term on the Old Orchard Beach School Board. For almost 55 years, he and his wife Jayne have lived in the same house that once belonged to Jayne’s grandmother, not far from the ocean and all the attractions of that small, seaside community.

Flaherty grew up as a twin in a family of seven kids in Portland. His father was a police officer. He graduated from Portland High School in 1965 and set his sights on college and having some fun.

“Portland was an entirely different place back in the ‘50s and ‘60s,” he laughed. “It was basically all Italians, Irish and Jews. There were several Catholic high schools, and they were all full. The city is so much more diverse these days.”

Flaherty said he didn’t put a great deal of effort into his academic studies, so he decided to leave college and joined the U.S. Army at the height of the Vietnam War in 1968.

“I knew it was just a matter of time before I was going to be drafted, so I decided it might be better to just go ahead and volunteer. I wanted to go to jump school,” he said. He served in the First Air Cavalry and completed a tour in Vietnam after finishing Pathfinder School.

When he returned home, he decided to go back to college and began taking classes part-time at Gorham State Teacher’s College to finish his degree. After graduating and finishing his student teaching requirements, Flaherty was hired by Principal Bob Moody at Fairfield Elementary School. Two years later, he was transferred to the C.K. Burns School and remained there for the next 32 years.

Our paths first crossed in 1974. I was 10 years old. He was beginning his third year as a full-time teacher.

Throughout your career, you pretty much remained as a fifth-grade teacher. Did that age bracket appeal to you?”

“Oh absolutely,” he said. “I loved fifth grade. At that age, the students aren’t babies anymore. You can have conversations with them, and they’re not smarter than you yet.” (Laughs)

How has teaching in public schools changed over the last 50 years?

“Oh wow . . . there are so many things. When I started, I had 33 kids in my classroom. Teaching now is so much different. For example, we teachers had quite a bit of time to consult with one another and compare notes, strategies, etc.

“Back then, we had much more leeway in our individual approaches. We had guidance and a curriculum to follow, but it was not a one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter approach. Actually, our classes back then were probably a little bit tougher. I required one book report every week. We weren’t teaching to the test. And today, history lessons are sort of put on a back shelf.”

What is your favorite memory of teaching?

“Oh, there are so many. It’s great that I have many students reach out to me, decades after they left my classroom. Facebook is wonderful for that. I stay in touch with at least 20 or so of my favorite students.”

But I was your all-time favorite, right?

(Laughs) “Oh, sure. Absolutely.” (Laughs).

Let’s talk about the peanut butter sandwiches.

“Okay.” (Laughs) “I almost forgot about that one.”

You asked us each to write a set of instructions about how to make a peanut butter sandwich. You collected our papers a few minutes later, went to the front of the class and tried making a sandwich with our instructions.

“Yes. That was a lot of fun. You had some very basic instructions such as put the peanut butter on the bread, and I would place the jar of peanut butter on top of the loaf of bread.” (Laughs)

You also tried to jab the closed jar with a butter knife. Fun, but also a great lesson in critical thinking and writing.

“That’s a good example of how we were able to inject fun and creativity into a classroom lesson.”

You retired from teaching in 2006, but you’re still involved in public schools.

“That’s the funny thing about teachers. You ask a group of people to volunteer, and every teacher in the room raises their hand.” (Laughs)

“I enjoy serving on the school board, but I am especially proud of working on the MAPS Scholarship program here in Old Orchard Beach. It was a small scholarship started by Louie Ladakakos, another former teacher from Old Orchard Beach. It started with a $500 scholarship for any Old Orchard Beach High School student and it’s just grown over the years.

“Today, MAPS provides 17 $1,000 scholarships and one $2,500 scholarship every year. Louie named it MAPS using the third letter of each of the founders’ last names.  Emerson Cummings, a science teacher, was M; Herb Bean was A; Jerome LePelletier, a former principal, was P; and John McSweeney, a former teacher and coach, was the S.

You say this will be your last term on the school board. What are your goals for the next three years?

“I’m really hoping we can get to a higher position on the state funding priority list because we really need a new school building. Both the Loranger and Jameson schools are in pretty rough shape. The last three years, we’ve been ranked in 12^th place for state funding and only seven get funded.

“As a community, we really need to tackle the affordable housing problem. It is having a significant impact on both our schools and our students.

Randy Seaver can be contacted at randy@randyseaver.com.