Status of Morningside High’s Ill Principal Is a Mystery to Officials : Education: The school board has been unable to learn when Mallory Matthews might return, or if they need to appoint an acting principal.

Inglewood school officials are in a quandary because the principal of Morningside High School has been hospitalized for almost a month, but neither he nor his family has informed the district of the nature of his illness or how long he may be sick.

An assistant principal is running the school, but school board members say they would appoint an acting principal if they knew that Principal Mallory Matthews was going to be out for some time.

“We need to know the status of Mr. Matthews,” said district spokesman Maurice Wiley. “Hopefully, we will hear something from the family.”

The family could not be reached for comment.

Matthews was taken to Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital on Sept. 4 when he suffered what school officials described as a seizure during a parents’ orientation meeting at Morningside. A hospital spokeswoman said Thursday that Matthews is in serious but stable condition.

Inglewood Unified School District officials say that despite repeated contact with the family, they have been frustrated in their attempts to find out the extent or nature of Matthews’ illness. Matthews’ father, Leonard Matthews, is an administrator assigned to the district office.

The school board instructed Supt. George McKenna early this month to send a letter to Matthews’ family asking when he might return to the $55,440-a-year principal’s post, but board members said this week they had received no response.

Wiley said district officials have “no idea” about Matthews’ illness. He said family members have said, “ ‘He’s OK, he’s doing better,’ but they haven’t given any details.”

Assistant Principal Edward Brownlee has been assigned to fill in for Matthews during his absence, but no acting principal has been named.

Matthews, who is in his late 30s, was assistant principal at Morningside from 1981 to 1985 before transferring to the assistant principal post at Inglewood High School.

Matthews was named principal in March after school board members forced the previous principal, Art Murray, from his job. The school has been disrupted in the past year by scheduling difficulties that have kept hundreds of students out of class and by student walkouts staged to protest campus conditions.

Matthews, who lives near the Morningside campus, received a master’s degree in education from Pepperdine University. In addition to his two assistant principal posts, he has served as Inglewood’s coordinator of adult education and an adult eduction instructor.