William (Bill) Purdy
In April 1991, it was my honor to be elected to a six-year
term on the St. Louis Board of Education and was reelected for
a second six-year term in April 1997. I was a member of the boards
that successfully negotiated an end of the lengthy and costly desegregation
litigation and built the new Vashon and Metro High Schools, the
Nance, Clyde C. Miller Academy, the Gateway Elementary and Middle
Schools, Stix ECC, Carnahan Middle while most other schools, such
as Adams and McKinley were completely renovated within budget and
without public controversy. A comprehensive air-conditioning program
was begun without increasing tax rates. Community Education programs
were expanded.
During those years the district experienced steady improved
student achievement, a reduction in the drop out rate and improved
student attendance. The district moved within two points of receiving
full state accreditation. After earlier serving two terms as
vice-president, I served as president of the Board of Education
during the 2002-2003 school year and completed my first twelve-year
period of board service in April 2003. I was reelected to a new
four-year term in April, 2005.
I spent most of my life associated with the SLPS and genuinely
care about all children, the city of St. Louis, and our public
school system. After spending my kindergarten and elementary
school years at Roe Elementary, my next four years were spent
as a student at Southwest High School. Following graduation from
Southeast Missouri State University and the University of Missouri,
Columbia, I returned to the District in 1960 as a teacher at
Southwest High School. After spending ten years at Southwest,
Lincoln Opportunity and Cleveland High Schools as an administrator
and teacher, I spent the next twenty years as the High School
Principal of both Central and Roosevelt High Schools. I retired
from the district in June 1990.
I caught batting practice for the old St. Louis Browns baseball
team (now the Baltimore Orioles in 1952 & 1953 and caught
the famed pitcher Satchel Paige)
My involvement in educational programs and organizations continued
beyond my service on the Board of Education. I hold active memberships
in the National Association of Secondary Principals, Missouri
Association of Secondary Principals, the Department of Elementary
and Secondary Education Advisory Committee with the United States
Military Recruiting Commands, the St. Louis Science Center as
a trustee and a member of the Science Center Marketing Committee,
and the community health board of Reach. I am a former member
of the Staff Development Advisory Committee of the Cooperating
School District of greater St. Louis, the Board of Directors
of the Missouri School Board Association, a trustee board of
the Missouri Botanical Garden and a trustee of the St. Louis
Public School Retirement System.
Other professional opportunities have included serving as a
graduate assistant in Education at the University of Missouri
- Columbia, assisting in student teaching programs at SLU, Washington
University, Southeast Missouri State University and the UMSL,
a participant and speaker in the C. F. Kettering Foundation School
Climate Improvement Project, a recipient of the James E. Allen
Fellowship Scholarship of the Danforth Foundation, and participated
in many North Central Association schools accreditation evaluations.
I co-chaired and served on citywide committees at the request
of Mayors Vincent Schoemehl, Jr., Freeman Bosley, Jr.
My wife, Mary Beth Purdy, is the former Principal of the Classical
Junior Academy at McKinley. We are members of the Concord Baptist
Church. All of my children and three grandchildren attended the
St. Louis Public Schools and two of my adult daughters are in
the midst of long careers as teachers in the city schools.
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