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The 1960s were a time for change for both Beauvoir and the world. Mrs. Taylor decided to retire as Head of School, a post she held for 31 years. During her tenure, enrollment rose from 67 children in the 1930s to over 200 children in the early 1960s.
Mrs. Frances Borders became the second headmistress of Beauvoir in 1964 when planning was already underway for a new, more updated school. As a pioneer of modern curriculum in Montgomery County, Mrs. Borders was determined to put new educational philosophies to work at the School and to put Beauvoir on the leading edge of the movement nationally. Mrs. Borders did away with naptime for all but the youngest children, turned the desks from rows to tables, which allowed the children to collaborate and created more space in the small classrooms, and continued the practice of a “discussion” every morning, still in place at Beauvoir today (Morning Meeting).
Mrs. Borders, in collaboration with The Very Reverend John Walker, a canon of the Cathedral at the time, lessened the formality of chapel at Beauvoir. It was moved from Bethlehem Chapel to the Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimethea, where it is still held today. Reverend Walker and Mrs. Borders believed that the informal St. Joseph’s Chapel allowed children to be more involved in the service, to speak, and to be heard. When Reverend Walker became the first African-American Bishop of Washington, D.C., he remained Beauvoir's beloved chaplan for years after.
During the mid-1960s when the rest of the United States was struggling with de-segregation, Beauvoir was well down the road to integration. In 1965, an anonymous donor made a gift of $10,000 to be used solely for scholarships for African-American children. In 1969, the Board agreed to further supplement the Scholarship Fund, which allowed eighteen more children to attend Beauvoir. The combination of these two financial contributions allowed for the creation of the Beauvoir Scholarship Fund, still in existence today.
Fun Fact!
In March 1965, students moved into the “new Beauvoir” building and that October the Beauvoir mansion was torn down.
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