Head of School Ron Waldman with former Heads of School Ellen Toole and Bob Coombs.

History of Meridian School

The Meridian School was founded by Betty Lea in 1976 as Perkins Elementary School. The school was an outgrowth of the original Perkins School for Children, which opened its doors as a preschool and kindergarten in 1946. Perkins Elementary began as a small school of approximately 30 first and second grade students. The school was located in a church basement until 1981, when the program was moved to its present location in the Good Shepherd Center. At this time the school occupied the north portion of the main building and shared the South Annex gym with the Pacific Northwest Ballet. The program was expanded at this time to include grades three through six. Due to the addition of sixth grade to middle schools in the late 1980s, Perkins dropped sixth grade in 1987.

To keep up with rising enrollment, the school renovated the South Annex and added six classrooms in 1989. The gym was improved two years later in 1991. The school was accredited for the first time by the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools (PNAIS) and the National Association of Schools and Colleges (NASC) in 1990. The school was reaccredited by PNAIS in 2000.

The North Annex of the Good Shepherd Center was occupied in 1995 to make way for the school's first kindergarten class. With so many changes taking place at the school, the name was changed from Perkins Elementary to The Meridian School in 1997.

In 1999, teachers, parents, and students participated in the creation of a new playground in Meridian Park. The renovation was complete in 2003. Our longtime director, Ellen Toole, retired in 2004 after 25 years of service. Ron Waldman took over as Head of School the following year. Under Ron’s leadership, the school has undertaken extensive capital and curriculum improvements. The school was visited by a PNAIS team in the winter of 2009 as part of a periodic re-accreditation process