First Head of School
1933-1964

Elizabeth Glascock Taylor was Beauvoir's very first Head of School and she began many of the traditions that Beauvoir has in place to this day.

Mrs. Taylor was not only the Head of School, but she was the Director of Admissions, Business Manager, and Director of Development all rolled into one. 

Under Mrs. Taylor's leadership Beauvoir became a trend-setting school. She introduced the idea of placing children in classes by ability, something she described as her most important contribution of her 31 years as Head. Mrs. Taylor was also proud of the School's ground-breaking reading readiness and number work program for pre-schoolers.  In Mrs. Taylor's first year as head, Beauvoir created its own first-ever Kindergarten workbook, ahead of textbook publishers at the time. By the next decade, she would invent "Cuisenaire Rods" math manipulatives, still in use in our classrooms today!

Mrs. Taylor's longest lasting contribution to Beauvoir is the "World-Mindedness" program which she began right after World War II and which still exists today in the form of Global Studies.  To read more about World-Mindedness and the recognition it brought Beauvoir click here.  

Second Head of School
1964-1979

Frances J. Borders was Beauvoir's Second Head of School serving from 1961-1979.  Mrs. Borders was a leader in early childhood education.  She believed that if individual differences in children were encouraged and celebrated by teachers, the student would find a life-long pleasure in learning and self-education.  Mrs. Borders is responsible for starting the "resource" program at Beauvoir so additional teachers were hired to allow for a full program in science, math, creative movement and art.  The library and physical education teachers, already in place, were given more class time.

Mrs. Borders left quite a legacy at Beauvoir.  She oversaw the design of a new building, which was essential to the physical integration of the changing student body at Beauvoir.  She not only developed the physical plant, but she put time and resources into developing Beauvoir faculty by introducing them to innovative teaching methods.  Educators from all over the world came to Beauvoir, as they do today, to observe how Beauvoir teachers put these methods to work.

As had been true since Beauvoir's founding, the life of the School reflected the changes that were taking place in society as a whole.  As chaotic and confusing as the 60s and 70s were, they also presented Mrs. Borders with the opportunity to break ground in new and exciting ways.

Third Head of School
1979-1992

Mrs. Mary "Polly" Moreland began her tenure at Beauvoir in 1979. Former faculty members remember her as "sure-footed" from the start.  One of Mrs. Moreland's first acts as Head of School was to move the Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students into the new nursery/kindergarten wing under the same roof as the rest of the School.  From the start, her thirteen year tenure was one as a hands-on administrator, who was always available for guidance to the faculty and gave personal attention to each child.

Mrs. Moreland began the "Assistant Teachers" program at Beauvoir.  She said, "I liked bringing in college graduates as assistant teachers-- for the first and second grades, in the mornings only."  She soon established the Assistant Teachers program at all grade levels.  The Assistant Teacher program has now morphed into the Associate Teacher program.

Mrs. Moreland also actively encouraged faculty creativity.  She was the first Head of School to request a written curriculum and weekly lesson plans from each teacher.  Mrs. Moreland put a strong emphasis on growing the creative writing program at every grade-level and teachers met throughout the school year to weave this type of writing into all types of classroom work.

Perhaps one of Mrs. Moreland's most lasting legacies at Beauvoir to parents today was the creation of the After Beauvoir Center (ABC).  As more families became dual income,  the need for a structured after-school program grew.  Mrs. Moreland said, "We realized that some of the children were not being supervised after school, and we knew that with careful planning we could provide the caring and nurturing environment that children were used to during the day."   Today, the After Beauvoir Center has a record number of participants, who are grateful to Mrs. Moreland for beginning the program.

Mrs. Moreland also grew the physical plant with a very successful capital campaign which provided funds for an expansion of the school and an endowment for faculty salaries. When construction was complete, Beauvoir had a new science room, performing arts room, a library renovation and new classroom space for some Faculty and Staff.  When the building was complete, Beauvoir was a physically complete circle; a child could walk protected and guided from one section of the school to another, guided by architectural design.  The interlocking elements of the School also worked together cohesively.  The Governing Board, the faculty, the staff, the Administration and the parents support each other to form the links of an interdependent unit an unbroken circle of dedication and involvement that makes Beauvoir more than just bricks and mortar. 

Mrs. Moreland retired from Beauvoir in 1992 and Paula J. Carreiro, Beauvoir's current Head of School, was hired.