Earl Maurice Pernert was born on June 3, 1914 in St. Louis, Michigan to Fred C. and Ethel Pernert. Though 1920 and 1930 he remained living in St. Louis with his parents, he graduated from St. Louis High School in 1931. He graduated with his bachelor’s degree from Central State Teacher’s College in Mt. Pleasant in 1935. While at Central he took to athletics and majored in the sciences.

In 1935, he began his first stint teaching in Bad Axe, Michigan, where he taught science and was assistant coach of athletic teams, he remained in Bad Axe through 1936. In 1936, Pernert moved to New Haven, Michigan where he taught science and coached the football, basketball, and baseball teams. He left New Haven in 1941 for Flint’s Bendle School. After teaching for one year in Flint, Pernert decided he didn’t want to teach and took a job as a traveling salesman. That, however, did not last. In February 1943, Pernert took a position teaching science and coaching in Fennville, Michigan.

In 1944, while in Fennville, Pernert met Dorothy Sundstrom. They married and had two children, Fred and Charlotte. In 1945, Pernert moved to Portland, Michigan, where he taught until 1952. In 1950, he earned his Master of Arts degree from Michigan State College. In 1952, he left Portland and moved up the ladder to the superintendent position in Gobles, Michigan. He served as superintendent of Gobles School until 1954. He was then offered the position of superintendent in the community schools of Olivet, where he served as superintendent from 1954 to 1958.

In 1958, Pernert was offered the position of superintendent of Holt Schools when Rex B. Smith left his post as superintendent of Holt Schools to take over the superintendency of Troy, Michigan Schools. In 1958, Holt not only got a new superintendent but their new high school also opened. Once in Holt, Pernert again went back to school and earned his Doctor of Education degree from Michigan State University in 1960. Under Dr. Pernert, Holt saw many school additions and renovations and Wilcox Elementary was built in 1968. The school system doubled, tripled and grew exponentially over Pernert’s tenure as superintendent. Pernert also oversaw the consolidation of many area schools, including, most notably, Dimondale Schools into Holt Public Schools in 1962. A beloved member of the Holt community, Dr. Pernert was responsible for many aspects of Holt Schools which remain today. Pernert once said Holt was the “most pleasant superintendency [he] ever had.”

In the community of Holt, the Pernerts were members of the Holt Presbyterian Church, where Maurice was an elder. He was also a member and treasurer of the Holt Kiwanis Club. He held a high regard for Holt, a community in which he intended to stay for the remainder of his career. 

Dr. Pernert was a member of the Association of School Administrators, the National School Board Association, the National School Public Relations Association, the Michigan Community School Education Association, the Ingham County Superintendent’s Round Table, the Michigan State Alumni Association and was on many councils and committees for the State Board of Education.

Dr. Pernert passed away during his tenure as Holt Schools superintendent in 1971, four months after undergoing open heart surgery at the age of 56.

On the first day of school in 1972, all district flags were flown at half-staff as a tribute to the longtime superintendent. In 1972, Holt’s first year without Dr. Pernert, the school district made many renovations to the high school on Aurelius Road. An auditorium had been added to the school in 1969 and was dedicated to Dr. Pernert after his death in 1972. It was named the “Maurice Pernert Auditorium.” It is still operating today as the auditorium for Holt Junior High School. In 2018, Pernert's portrait was returned to the lobby outside the auditorium after many years of disrepair and removal.