Lottie Beebe

{{Short description|American politician and educational administrator}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name= Lottie Polozola Beebe

|caption=

|office= Member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for District 3

|term_start=January 2012

|term_end=October 2015

|preceded=Glenny Lee Castagnos Buquet

|succeeded=Sandy Holloway

|birth_date=October 1953

|birth_place=Melville
St. Landry Parish
Louisiana, USA

|death_date=

|death_place=

|death_cause=

|resting_place=

|party=Democrat-turned-Republican

|spouse=(1) Missing

(2) Joseph Richard "Rick" Pearson, Sr.

|children=Jeremy R. Beebe

Tony James Beebe

Stepchildren:

Joseph Richard "Joey" Pearson, Jr.

Eric Blair Pearson

Carrie A. Pearson

|parents=Domminic and Betty Dukes Polozola

|alma_mater=Melville High School

Louisiana State University

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Southeastern Louisiana University

|residence=Breaux Bridge
St. Martin Parish

|occupation=School superintendent of St. Martin Parish

}}

Lottie Polozola Beebe, sometimes known as Lottie Beebe-Pearson (born October 1953), is the former superintendent of public schools in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana.{{cite web|url=http://www.katc.com/news/breaux-bridge-elementary-on-soft-lockdown-/#_|title=Breaux Bridge Elementary on "soft lockdown", August 27, 2013|publisher=KATC-TV|accessdate=October 22, 2013}} In September 2018, the St. Martin Parish School Board declined to renew Beebe's contract as superintendent, but she showed up for work the next day on the advice of her lawyer, L. Lane Roy of Lafayette. Beebe claims the school board action is "illegal" and "political" in nature.{{cite web|url=http://kpel965.com/board-votes-to-fire-superintendent-she-shows-up-for-work/|title=Board votes to fire superintendent, she shows up for work|date=6 September 2018 |publisher=KPEL Radio|accessdate=September 9, 2018}}

Beebe is a Republican former member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for District 3 in South Louisiana. She had been an intraparty critic of former Governor Bobby Jindal particularly in regard to educational policies. District 3 includes all or portions of these parishes: Ascension, Assumption, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson, Lafourche, Plaquemines, Pointe Coupee, St. Bernard, St. John the Baptist, and St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, Terrebonne, and Vermilion.

Background

A native of Melville in St. Landry Parish, Beebe was a daughter of the late Dominic Polotzola and the former Betty Dukes, later Betty Wyble (1935-2010).{{cite web|url=http://www.lafondardoin.com/services.asp?locid=6&page=odetail&id=14011|title=Betty Wyble|publisher=lafondardoin.com|accessdate=October 23, 2013}} Lottie Polotzola apparently dropped the "t" from her maiden name. She graduated in 1971 from Melville High School.{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/lottiebeebe|title=Lottie Polozola Beebe|publisher=facebook.com|accessdate=October 22, 2013}} Known still as Lottie Beebe, from her first husband, she resides in Breaux Bridge with her second husband. She originally was a teacher in St. Landry Parish. For eight years, Beebe was an elected Democrat{{cite web|url=http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/10061990/10061990_49.html|title=Results for Election Date: 10/6/1990|publisher=staticresults.sos.la.gov|accessdate=October 22, 2013}} on the St. Landry Parish School BoardActive employees of a school district in Louisiana cannot serve on that school board, but retired employees may do so. School district employees may serve on a school board in another parish where they reside but are not employed by that school district. in the District 5 position. While on that board, Beebe taught in St. Martin Parish, where she was, a principal for two years and the parish human resources officer.{{cite web|url=http://beebeforbese.com/About_Lottie_P.html|title=About Lottie P. Beebe|publisher=beebeforbese.com|accessdate=October 22, 2013}}

In 2013, she was promoted to superintendent of St. Martin Parish while remaining in her second year on the BESE board; the St. Martin position pays $121,000 annually.{{cite news |title=Will Sentell, Beebe, the loyal opposition on BESE, July 29, 2013 |newspaper=Baton Rouge Morning Advocate |url=http://theadvocate.com/home/6604766-125/beebe-the-loyal-opposition-on |url-status=dead |accessdate=October 22, 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029193425/http://theadvocate.com/home/6604766-125/beebe-the-loyal-opposition-on |archivedate=October 29, 2013}} Beebe obtained her master's degree from Louisiana State University. She received her doctoral degree in educational leadership from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the Southeastern Louisiana University Consortium.{{cite web|url=http://www.bese.louisiana.gov/about-bese/bese's-district-3-representative|title=BESE Member Biographical Summary: Dr. Lottie Beebe|publisher=bese.louisiana.gov|accessdate=October 22, 2013}}

Beebe is married to Joseph Richard "Rick" Pearson, Sr. (born February 1952), formerly of Lamar in Johnson County in northwestern Arkansas, who ran unsuccessfully in 2010 for the District 6 seat on the St. Martin Parish School Board. He was defeated by a fellow Republican, Robert E. Hollier.{{cite web|url=http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/10022010/10022010_50.html|title=Results for Election Date: 10/2/2010|publisher=staticresults.sos.la.gov|accessdate=October 22, 2013}} Together the Pearsons have five children.{{cite web|url=http://lwvofla.org/_archives/2011/documents/biographies/LWVLA%20BESE%203%20BEEBE%20BIO.pdf |title=Candidate Biography |publisher=League of Women Voters |accessdate=October 22, 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119001335/http://lwvofla.org/_archives/2011/documents/biographies/LWVLA%20BESE%203%20BEEBE%20BIO.pdf |archivedate=January 19, 2016 }}

BESE board

Beebe won her seat from District 3 in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 22, 2011, when she unseated the Democrat Glenny Lee Castagnos Buquet (born 1926) of Houma in Terrebonne Parish, 68,079 votes (55.8 percent) to 53,986 (44.2 percent).{{cite web|url=http://voterportal.sos.la.gov/static/2011-10-22/resultsRace/MultiParish|title=Results for Election Date: 10/22/2011|publisher=staticresults.sos.la.gov|accessdate=October 22, 2013}}

Buquet, who had been endorsed by Republican Governor Bobby Jindal despite their partisan difference, had announced her support for John C. White as the Louisiana state superintendent of education. Beebe opposed White's nomination. Upon her defeat, Buquet urged Beebe to back Jindal's reform agenda, particularly attempts to increase literacy and to enhance teacher evaluations of instruction.{{cite web|url=http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20111023/articles/111029794|title=Matthew Albright, St. Martin teacher bests Houma resident in BESE race, October 23|publisher=Lafourche Parish Daily Comet|accessdate=October 22, 2013}}

Days after joining the BESE board, Beebe in January 2012 cast the only dissenting vote to Governor Jindal's nomination of White, calling for a wider search in choosing a new superintendent. On April 10, 2012, Beebe criticized Governor Jindal for the speed at which he passed his educational reform package, stating she believed he had pushed it through without proper dissent so that he could attend the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, as a "shining star" of his party.{{cite web|url=http://forgotston.com/search/breaux/feed/rss2/|title=BESE member reveals Jindal's motives, April 10, 2012|publisher=C. B. Forgotston|accessdate=October 22, 2013}}{{Dead link|date=March 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Through her tenure, Beebe remained an outspoken dissenter on the BESE board. She has criticized White for hiring "inexperienced out-of-staters" in the state department of education and has accused other BESE members of being "rubber stamps" for the Jindal-White educational agenda. She has also opposed the Common Core curriculum. Beebe's critics have accused her of relying on teacher unions for her comments, which she denies.

Beebe was unseated in the primary election held on October 24, 2015, by another Republican, Sandy Holloway, an educator from Thibodaux in Lafourche Parish, 46,605 (38.6 percent) to 74,078 (61.4 percent).{{cite web|url=http://voterportal.sos.la.gov/static/2015-10-24/resultsRace/MultiParish|title=Results for Election Date: 10/24/2015|publisher=staticresults.sos.la.gov|accessdate=October 28, 2015}} Beebe's frequent ally, Democrat Carolyn Hill, was also unseated in her reelection bid.{{cite news|url=http://theadvocate.com/news/13798268-123/backers-of-common-core-other|title=Backers of Common Core, other changes make clean sweep in BESE contests|newspaper=The Baton Rouge Advocate|author=Will Sentell|date=October 25, 2015|accessdate=November 15, 2015}}