Michael Matthews, Ed.D.
ESS Consultant
Education Support Services Group
Cell: (310) 910-3336
Dr. Michael Matthews has more than 35 years of experience in K-12 education, including over 11 years as Superintendent of Manhattan Beach Unified School District. His service also included school principal positions, positions as assistant superintendent, and 10 years as an adjunct professor.
Following undergraduate study at Stanford University, Dr. Matthews earned a master’s degree in education and a Single Subject Social Science Teaching Credential at Stanford, as well. He also earned a Preliminary Administrative Services Credential from U.C. Berkeley and a Professional Administrative Services Credential from Pepperdine University. Dr. Matthews also earned his doctorate in Educational and Institutional Management from Pepperdine University.
Dr. Matthews has a strong background in instructional leadership. He served as District spokesperson and as a mentor to school principals. He created additional graduation requirements, focusing on a schoolwide portfolio for all students that included community service, multimedia technology, writing, research, and multi-cultural awareness. He led Malibu High School from a grade 6-9 school of 420 in 1993 to a WASC-accredited grade 6-12 California Distinguished High School of 1300 students in 2004.
Dr. Matthews’ diverse backgrounds are responsible for a wide array of successes in varied areas such as human resources, where he led development of new teacher evaluation systems, was responsible for a human resources department overseeing 1500 certificated and classified staff (and continues to mentor human resource professionals); finance and business, where he developed and presented budgets to boards of education and completed multi-million-dollar construction projects on time and on budget; and technology, where he updated technology infrastructure and integrated technology into a curriculum that introduced two new student information systems to districts.
Dr. Matthews is a member and moderator in the Superintendents Consortium 2034 and holds membership in Association of California Supervisors and Administrators. He has been awarded the ACSA Region 14 Superintendent of the Year (2013), District nominee for California Teacher of the Year (1990), and City of Malibu Dolphin Award (“Citizen of the Year”) (1997). Under his superintendency, Manhattan Beach USD was named an Apple Distinguished School District (2012-2016), MBUSD also earned multiple California Distinguished School awards, National Blue Ribbon Awards, one National Green Ribbon Award, and numerous other recognitions.