Susan Beaulier named 2015 County Teacher of the Year
ASHLAND, Maine — An Ashland educator has been named Aroostook County’s Teacher of the Year, and is now in the running for the state’s top honor.
Susan Beaulier, an art teacher at Ashland District School, was announced as the region’s top teacher during a May 7 ceremony at the State House. Maine First Lady Ann LePage and Acting Education Commissioner Tom Desjardin made the announcement during Teacher Appreciation Week.
Joining LePage and Desjardin in recognizing the 2015 County Teachers of the Year were current Maine Teacher of the Year and Skowhegan Area Middle School special educator Jennifer Dorman, Educate Maine Executive Director Ed Cervone and State Board of Education member Alan Burton.
“On behalf of Maine’s 180,000 students, I want to congratulate these excellent educators and the thousands of others like them working in our schools for their tireless commitment to our children and our communities,” Desjardin said. “What makes the 16 County Teachers of the Year, and so many others across our state, great is that they believe in every single child they teach. Instead of making excuses, they inspire students and instill them with the skills and confidence they need to realize their incredible potential, no matter their challenges.”
Beaulier and her fellow honorees were chosen from a field of more than 300 nominees.
Maine’s County Teachers of the Year serve as ambassadors for teachers, students and the efforts underway in the state’s public schools to better prepare graduates for success in college, career and civic life. During their term, they are available to make presentations to local and regional audiences.
Those honored will now move forward in an intensive selection process that will include creation of a video showcasing their classroom instructional practices, portfolio development and review, school visits and an interview with a select panel to include the Education Commissioner. Ultimately, three state finalists and the 2016 Maine Teacher of the Year will be chosen and named by the Commissioner at a surprise all-school assembly this fall.
In nominating Beaulier for the honor, SAD 32 Superintendent Gehrig Johnson called her an “extraordinary teacher.”
“For the last 24 years, Sue has been an art/gifted and talented teacher in SAD 32, a small school district with a 310 student school system located within one building. Sue Beaulier teaches art to each one of these students,” said Johnson. “She is highly intelligent, humorous, extremely self-motivated, a wonderful public speaker, and — most importantly — an exceptional educator, mentor and friend to all of our students.”
Johnson said Beaulier is an educational leader within the school system in many ways.
“She was the Maine 2013 middle school Art Teacher of the Year, and was committee chair for our very successful, recently completed reaccreditation process with NEASC. SAD 32 coordinates a very successful after-school 21st Century Community Learning Center and Mrs. Beaulier has been instrumental in providing a strong, solid foundation for that program,” he said. “She inspires, motivates and challenges our students, at all levels and abilities, to strive to do their best.
“Mrs. Beaulier is always willing to take on any task to help her students improve. She knows every student in the school, and their parents, on a first name basis. She helps create all of the sets and backdrops for plays and drama presentations at Ashland High School. She also provides the backdrops for graduation, class night and many musicals that are performed throughout the year,” said Johnson. “Sue is a special person who loves all of our students, not just those who are easy to like. She cries with them and laughs with them. There are many children in this school whose reason for getting up each morning is to see Mrs. Beaulier’s smiling face at school.”
Efforts to reach Beaulier were unsuccessful.
Maine Teacher of the Year is a program of the Maine Department of Education, administered by Educate Maine, a business-led organization working to ensure Maine’s students and workers are the best educated and highly skilled in the world.
“The Maine Teacher of the Year program is a unique opportunity to promote, support and highlight the teaching profession. The classroom teacher is the backbone of our educational system, and we are so pleased to honor the 2015 Maine County Teachers of the Year who will serve as ambassadors for their students, school, county, and teacher colleagues,” said Yellow Light Breen, executive vice president of Bangor Savings Bank and chair of Educate Maine’s board of directors. “Congratulations to these exemplary teachers and to all the teachers who were nominated for County Teacher of the Year.”
For more information, visit www.maine.gov/doe/toy/.
