Dr. Michael McQuary, Ed D

Michael McQuary was born in the mountains of Idaho and moved southwest, living and attending school in Washington, Oregon, and California, before moving to the Himalayan Mountains in Northern India, and then settling in San Diego. 

Dr. McQuary received a BA from UC-Berkeley, MA from Fresno State, Doctorate from University of Southern California, and Postdoctoral Training at Harvard University. 

He had pre-professional job experience as a Railroad Fireman, Home Construction, Manufacturing Quality Control Inspector (private and government contracts), and Casualty/Life Insurance Representative, before initiating a professional career as Teacher, Principal, District and County School Administrator; as well as, international service with the Tibetan Children’s Village, in Dharamsala, India. 

Retiring in San Diego, California, Dr McQuary has been active in his community with multiple local, county, state, national, and international organizations, including service with Rotary (President), Democratic Party (Club President, County Central Committee-Director of Clubs, and California Democratic Council President), Pacific Beach Town Council (Director), San Diego Unified School District (School Board Member and President), California School Board Association (Delegate), Council of Great City Schools (Director), San Diego International Sister Cities Association (Chair), Sister Cities International Southern California Chapter (Director), and Sister Cities International (Director and Co-Chair of several committees: Sister Schools Initiative, US-Mexico Mayors’ Community Summit, and Strategy and Program Committee). 

As a member of the School Board for San Diego Unified School District (2nd largest school district in California, with annual budgets of more than a billion dollars per year and school bonds totaling more than $12 billion), Dr. McQuary advocated for excellence through equity, inclusion, and diversity (High Quality Schools in Every Neighborhood and High Quality Neighborhoods Around Every School), school gardens and peace poles (A place where kindness can be given and received), world languages (PreK-12 Language Immersion Programs-Chinese Mandarin, French, Spanish), cultural competencies (equity audits, ethnic studies, and anti-bullying policies), and civic/global engagement (PreK-12 IB Programs, civic learning, and Sister Schools). Multiple milestones were accomplished, including San Diego students achieving the highest graduation rates and lowest dropout rates of the larger urban school districts in California (California State Assessments-CAASPP) and achieving the highest 4th grade and 8th grade English Language Arts and Math scores of the larger urban school districts in the USA (National Report Card-NAPE). The District Superintendent, Cindy Marten, who served during Dr McQuary’s 8 year tenure, was appointed by President Biden and confirmed to serve as US Deputy Secretary of Education. 

Dr McQuary also left his local school board position for national and international service as a Board of Director for Sister Cities International, which oversees more than 2,000 Sister City

partnerships in more than 140 countries. As a Director, Dr McQuary focused on youth services, international student exchanges, Sister School Programs, and connecting students in US Sister Cities with students in international Sister Cities. 

Dr. McQuary has three Children, who graduated from UC-Santa Cruz, UC-Santa Barbara, and West Point (Served in Korea, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Iraq). He has three grandchildren, who attend elementary, middle, and high school, and two grandchildren, who graduated from CSU-Monterey Bay and CSU-Sonoma.