Retiring school board members recognized for service
Brinker, Briggs, Beerer attend their last meeting
Three longtime Royal Oak Board of Education members attended their last meeting on Thursday.
Board President Jeff Brinker, Vice-President Gary Briggs and Trustee Carrie Beerer decided against seeking reelection last month after many years.
“It’s been a pleasure working with such caring community members invested in the education of our young people, as they also supported our staff and families,” said Superintendent Mary Beth Fitzpatrick in a statement. “Mr. Briggs, Mr. Brinker and Ms. Beerer have selflessly dedicated themselves to the Royal Oak Schools community for quite a few years and they will be greatly missed.”
The departing officials have a combined experience of 37 years on the school board.
Briggs was elected as the school district was beginning to grapple with consolidating buildings in the face of declining enrollment in 2003.
He served 17 years and is a past president of the board.
Briggs in 2004 led an effort that became the Royal Oak Mural Project.
Thanks to his prodding, crates containing Depression era murals were pulled out of storage and saw the light of day for the first time in more than two decades.
It turned out that the colors and images of the three 11-foot-by-23 foot oil paintings were miraculously well preserved. They were done under President Franklin Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration. The WPA in the 1930s put unemployed workers, and artists, back to work. The murals were the largest WPA art
project in the state.
“They really are national treasures ... they’re priceless,” Briggs told the Daily Tribune before the murals were installed again at Royal Oak Middle School.
Brinker served on the board for 10 years in a number of positions, including president.
“It’s amazing how fast the years fly by,” he said in a statement.
Brinker started his time on the board during the national recession and is leaving during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was nothing short of amazing at how well Royal Oak Schools reacted and succeeded during challenging times,” he said.
Beerer also served for a decade as a trustee on the board. An active member of the PTA with children in the district, she said serving on the board was the next logical step in her community involvement.
Highlights during her tenure included the hiring of two superintendents that she said “were the right people we needed when their time came to work with us.”
The three outgoing board members’ seats will be filled by three newcomers who won election in November — Erika Alexander, Timothy Cierchorski and Lisa-Aline Hanes. Their four-year terms start next month.
Incumbent board member Maryanne VanHaitsma also won another term in the recent election.