Dr. Shelvie A. McCoy, 76, a D.C. Public Schools administrator for more than 20 years who had a leading role in efforts to prevent substance abuse, died March 4 at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda.
Shelvie Anne Lee, a fourth generation Washingtonian, graduated from Dunbar High School in 1955. She worked for 10 years as a medical technician at the National Institutes of Health before receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees in speech pathology and sociolinguistics from Federal City College, a precursor of the University of the District of Columbia. She received a doctorate in speech pathology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1982.
Dr. McCoy developed a citywide substance abuse and violence prevention program in 1990 for DCPS. She also developed programs in special education and language services for the school system. Prior to this, she was director of Special Education for DCPS.
Survivors include her husband of 60 years, Samuel McCoy; four daughters, Andrea McCoy Johnson, Doxie, Shari and Kelli McCoy Burkett; her mother, Helen Bell; three sisters, Sandra Thomas, Beverly Brook and Tracy Lee Stapleton; a brother, Frank Bell; five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.