Valley Center-Pauma Unified Superintendent to retire in January

Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District Superintendent Ron McCowan will retire Jan. 1 after 34 years in education.

McCowan said he didn’t expect to be asked about his health when he announced his retirement at a staff meeting on Tuesday. His answer: “I’m healthy, that’s why I’m going.”

McCowan has been superintendent for about eight years. He was inspired to go into public education because of his own coach and other teachers in high school, and he was a football and wresting coach early in his career.

“They just instilled a lot of, you know, you cared about students and just making high school such a special experience, and I just wanted to be able to do that as a coach and teacher,” he said.

He said that one of those moments came when he was a principal during wildfires in 2007 in the northern part of the county. The high school had been the evacuation center, and officials ran an evacuation center with the help of local churches, tribes and restaurants.

“We fed, for two days, pretty much 3,000 people at each meal,” he said.

He said it’s hard to look back on tragedies, but the way the community came together was “just amazing.”

McCowan has worked as a coach, vice principal, elementary school principal, high school principal and superintendent.

“So, it’s been a nice long run,” he said.

McCowan said people always ask him what his favorite job has been, but he said they all have their strengths. He said teaching and coaching gave him interaction with kids. As vice principal in charge of discipline, he was teaching kids life lessons.

“And being a principal is just a pure blast,” he said.

In his time as an educator, he said that cellphones and instant access to the internet have been a big change and a detriment. But he also said that people always say that kids are different now.

“And I would counter that with ‘It’s true, but the kids are better,’” he said.

Kids are more into volunteering and being in tune with the world around them, he said.

McCowan said it’s been important for him to meet with all new teachers as they begin their career during his time as superintendent. He said one of the things that he always tells them is that being an educator is a hard job, but the work is easier if they find joy in it.

“I think, when I was younger and coach and everything, I was just so going straight forward, I wished I would have stopped and enjoyed a little bit more of the joy during that time,” he said.

The next superintendent of the K-12 school district will be a decision made by the school board. He said they will be meeting in the next couple of weeks.