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Beardmore Award Honors Public
Education Advocate
by Dave Groves, Oakland Press,
April 26, 2003
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Dorothy
Beardmore, a former State Board of Education member and longtime
public education advocate, had a good day this past week.
The 76 year old Rochester Hills resident has struggled with
terminal cancer and its side effects.
But when a group of friends and state education officials
visited Beardmore last Saturday, she reacted with surprise and
delight upon receiving a state award created in her honor.
The State Board of Education will annually recognize an
individual who significantly advances education reform in
Michigan with the Dorothy Beardmore Service to Education Award.
State officials named Beardmore the first recipient last week -
a show of gratitude for her 34 years of contributions to local,
state, and national education reform.
"She was very aware of what was happening and very
appreciative," said Bill Beardmore, her husband. "She was
delighted, she really was."
State Board of Education President Kathleen Straus, who worked
with Beardmore for eight years and has shared a friendship with
her for 25 years, said the award presentation was something she
and others who know Beardmore felt they had to do.
"It was emotional for all of us, to be honest with you. It's
just that she is so highly respected by the education
community," Straus said. "We wanted to do something that showed
our respect and our admiration for her."
Beardmore started her public service career on the Rochester
Board of Education in 1967, serving until 1974. Beardmore also
served on the Oakland Schools board from 1974-1984 and on the
state board from 1985-2001.
While on the state board, Beardmore helped rewrite teacher
certification rules, revise curriculum standards and establish a
school accreditation system.
On a broader lever, she contributed to a number of school
improvement initiatives through the National Association of
State Boards of Education. This included chairing the Healthy
Schools Network - a 15 state coalition dedicated to promoting
good health in school-age children and their families.
Beardmore impressed many with her comprehensive approach to
researching public education to researching public education
challenges, as well as her relentless dedication to finding
solutions.
"I think she's the only board member who in 16 years never
missed a state board meeting. And she was always extremely well
prepared." Strauss said.
Former State Superintendent Arthur Ellis worked with Beardmore
for five of the 16 years she served. "I can never remember in
the five years of board meetings any time that she had not read
every page of the materials we had for her," he said.
"She was perhaps the hardest working and had the most
intellectual approach to education in Michigan of any of the
veteran board members I've seen."
Friends said she also understood the importance of applauding
public school successes. "Dorothy and I visited just about every
Blue Ribbon (award-winning) school in the state," Strauss said.
"We wanted to show that we recognize schools of excellence and
that they should be held up as examples of what can be
accomplished."
Those who know Beardmore well say that despite her affiliation
with the Republican Party, her work had nothing to do with
politics.
"In my interactions with her; I saw that her motivations were
not serving her own interests, but they were always serving the
interests of children," said Rochester Schools Superintendent
John Schultz.
"I didn't see a lot of politics there, even though I realize it
is a political position," he noted.
Through the years, Beardmore has received dozens of honors,
recognitions and awards. They include the National Association
of State Boards of Education Distinguished Service Award, the
Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow, the Educational
Leadership Award from the Michigan Elementary and Middle School
Principals Association and induction into the Michigan Education
Hall of Fame.
Bill Beardmore said his wife sincerely appreciated the
recognition, but her greatest reward is seeing improvements in
the state's public education system.
"Her decisions and what she did were for education, not for any
political gains or awards," he said. "She was doing it to help
the children. This was her primary concern." |
