Outgoing TPS chief reflects on career

In a little less than a month, Tucumcari Public Schools superintendent Aaron McKinney will leave the unit office for the final time - a closing chapter to an unusually long 18-year tenure.

The retirement of McKinney, who turns 55 this month, officially will begin on New Year's Day. The school board is scheduled this month to pick a search firm to find a new superintendent. Assistant superintendent Dave Johnson is slated to serve as interim superintendent for a few months.

McKinney, sitting for an interview at his office last week, said he is the second-longest-tenured superintendent in New Mexico, with only V. Sue Cleveland of Rio Rancho Public Schools serving longer, at 29 years.

In total, McKinney has spent 29 years at Tucumcari Public Schools.

He became superintendent at TPS in mid-2006 during a tumultuous time. The board placed his predecessor, William Reents, on paid administrative leave and fired him a few weeks later.

McKinney, formerly a fifth-grade teacher at TPS, had been an assistant superintendent for a few months when Reents was removed. McKinney also served as an assistant superintendent for about a year during a previous period.

McKinney became acting superintendent, then was named permanently to the position a few months later.

McKinney said at the time, he insisted on clause in his contract where he could return to teaching if the superintendent job didn't work out.

"You had to look at all the short-timers (at superintendent) that were before me," he recalled. "Plus I had just built a new home not too long before that. I wasn't ready just to get up and leave. My wife wanted to be here. So that's why I put that (clause) in there."

McKinney obviously didn't invoke that clause.

He was asked what enabled him to stick around as superintendent for nearly two decades.

"I think at the time the board did hire me, they wanted to see a lot of things get rebuilt or new or improved on," he said. "Even when I was assistant, I was getting that done. They saw that."

One of his big projects was building a new Tucumcari High School.

"I remember the state came in, told me it would be 10 years before we could have a new high school," he recalled. "I had the blueprints in six months, and we were getting started.

"That was the focus of the board at that time, to go make improvements that hadn't been made in years."

The new Tucumcari High School was completed in early 2012.

During his tenure, McKinney also oversaw construction of Mesa Cafeteria and a bus barn. He guided extensive renovations to Rattler Gymnasium, Rattler Stadium, Rhodes Field House, the vocational agriculture building and the unit office itself.

On his so-called "bucket list," McKinney said he wanted to have the ballpark redevelopment project substantially done by his retirement. He said last week he was lining up bids for construction of the concession stand and changing rooms and that new sod was being laid on the fields.

He also wants to dispose of the closed Mountain View Elementary School before he leaves but also help find a new building for its tenant, Early Head Start. McKinney said the school district's insurer wants Mountain View condemned after it inspected the structure.

He said all those projects wouldn't have been possible with a short-tenure superintendent.

"Anytime you're changing superintendents every few years, you're not going to get things done," he said. "They may get started, but they don't get finished."

McKinney said Tom Sullivan of the New Mexico School Boards Association recently told him that once he and Cleveland retire, the average tenure of a superintendent in New Mexico would drop to about 18 months.

"That's pretty sad," McKinney said. "Like I said, in a year and half, you can't get things done."

"I've seen a lot of (superintendents) come and go," he added. "I used to know everybody. Now I'll go to these meetings, and I don't even know who's in the room. I know one or two people. That's how fast the turnover is."

McKinney said he's been consulting a lot with Johnson and procurement officer Veronica Hernandez "to make this transition as easy as possible."

He said even after he retires, he'll answer the phone if they call with questions.

"I told them I wouldn't leave them in the dark," McKinney said. "Some of the stuff just requires the knowledge from the past that you've done. I want the transition to be as good as possible for the kids."

McKinney said, however, he wasn't sure whether he would extend the same courtesy to the next superintendent.

"It just depends who it is," he said, signaling that lurking in the background might impede the new superintendent. "A lot of times, you just kind of step away from it."

Asked what he was proudest of during his tenure, McKinney said he couldn't think of any one thing in particular but admitted he liked the process of improving the district's buildings and infrastructure.

"It's just that kind of stuff just always been fun," he said. "I think of everything that I've done, something to kind of reflect on when I know what it used to be and what it is."

Asked what was the biggest challenge he faced, McKinney said it was his frustrations with the New Mexico Public Education Department.

"Just trying to get a hold of somebody trying to get answers and stuff like that," he said. "It's been a challenge. Not so much in the beginning, but it's it's gotten worse in the last 15 years, just trying to get somebody on the phone that knows what they're talking about."

McKinney said he initially wanted to retire at 50, but he didn't qualify for early retirement until age 55.

When asked what he will do after he steps down, McKinney said he'll have plenty of tasks at his home.

"I've let 29 years of things slip by at my place that I'm going to be catching up on," he said. "It may take me another 29 years to get it caught up. I got I got plenty to do."