After a 33-year career in public education the Superintendent of Fountain Hills Unified School District, Patrick Sweeney, will be retiring at the end of June.

Sweeney, a distinguished public educator, did not intend to end up in the public education field when he was younger. In fact, in high school, all he wanted to do was finish until one of his teachers gave him the push he needed.

“I had a high school government teacher my senior year and his name was D.J Ruden,” said Sweeney. “He was really impactful on me and he said to me more than once, ‘you know you’re a pretty smart guy, don’t be stupid.’ So I went to college last minute, at his encouragement, and thought ‘I’m going to be a high school government teacher.’”

Sweeney attend the University of Northern Iowa to purse an education degree but an academic advisor dissuaded him from that path. Instead, Sweeney went on to receive a degree in political science.

After graduating college Sweeney struggled to find a job in the political science field. In 1982 the search for employment brought him to Arizona, where he worked a variety of sales jobs for three years. Still, Sweeney was not fully satisfied with the jobs he was working.

“I keep thinking, you know, I want to teach,” Sweeney said. “That is what I want to do. I shouldn’t have listened to that guy but I did, so I am going to go back and get my teaching degree.”

So in 1985 Sweeney did just that. At that time post back teachers, people who go back to school to obtain their teaching credentials, were uncommon and schools like ASU and Grand Canyon University did not know what to do with Sweeney.

Despite that Sweeney was able to receive his teaching credentials in just one year. During that year Sweeney worked almost every day as a substitute teacher in various Phoenix school districts.

Most of his days as a sub were in special education classrooms, so when a mid-year vacancy opened for a special education teacher, it was the perfect position for Sweeney to begin his career in public education.

“I was able to get my emergency certification to teach (special education) but I wanted to be a government teacher,” explained Sweeney. “That is what I taught through my career; government, econ, world history, American history and criminal and civil law.”

Much like needing a mentor to prod him into the education field, Sweeney had many mentors who encouraged him to become involved in the administrative side of education.

“When I was a teacher in Paradise Valley I was becoming increasingly involved in the operations of the school and working with the principals at the time, so I was encourage by a principal,” said Sweeney. “He saw me becoming more involved and said to me, ‘you should really think about getting your administrative credentials.’ I didn’t see myself at all being involved in school administration at that time.”

As the years went on, though, Sweeney continued to become more involved in the administrative side of school. So when he started working on his master’s, Sweeney chose to have an emphasis in administration.

Sweeney’s first job on the administrative side of public education was as an assistant principal at a middle school. From there he would go on to get many positions in school administration, including the position of principal at Fountain Hills High School from 2004 to 2007.

This time as FHHS’s principal helped Sweeney when he came back to be the district’s superintendent three years ago.

“I had a pretty good understanding of the lay of the land and of the district,” said Sweeney. “So I do think that was an advantage coming in. I was familiar with what the issues were and I had a pretty specific plan coming in to address some of the needs that were there.”

Sweeney also gives a lot of credit to the team of people working around him such as Dr. Robert Allen, the principals of FHUSD’s schools and an “awesome” governing board.

“When you hire good people, success will follow,” said Sweeney.

Of all his 33 years in public education, Sweeney said he is particularly proud of how he is leaving FHUSD.

Next for Sweeney is a month of relaxation and bike riding until he throws himself back into the working world. He will be joining his lifelong friend, Steve Stecher, in Stecher’s custom drum building company, Doc Sweeney Drums. The company is actually named after Sweeney, who has been playing the drums since he was 10 years old.

As for the position of superintendent, FHUSD will spend the month of April interviewing for the position. The Governing Board is expected to confirm a replacement at their April 25 meeting. The position is already posted through various channels, and applications are being accepted.