FCCPS Board Chair Resigns, Assistant Superintendent to Retire in June

Two Falls Church City Public Schools leaders will announced they will be leaving the school district this year during Tuesday night’s school board meeting.

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Gloria Guba will resign in June and FCCPS Board Chair is leaving to become CEO of ConnCAN, a statewide education advocacy group in Connecticut.

Riccards said he and his family moved to the City of Falls Church five years ago with visions of staying for decades. His last day on the board will be Jan. 1 and he will move to Connecticut in April.

“I worked with ConnCAN as part of my consulting and they approached me earlier this year about coming to join them,” Riccards said. “The kids are excited because it’s their first move and it gets my wife closer to her family because she is from the New England area.”

Guba has been with FCCPS since 2001 leading the school system’s department of curriculum, instruction and assessment. Riccards, who has been board chair since July, will leave to head ConnCAN full-time. A special election will be held to find Riccards’ replacement. A date for the special election has not been selected.

Dr. Toni Jones, FCCPS superintendent, said the school system would miss the two education leaders. Jones, who joined the school district in late June, said Guba is an amazing educator who has given much of her life to FCCPS.

“While her departure is sad for us, we are also excited for her.  Dr. Guba has given her heart and soul to FCCPS for many years, and that type of leadership is very special,” Jones said.  “She is an amazing educator who has given much of her life to our staff and students in Falls Church.  We thank her from the bottom of our hearts.”

Jones said Riccards “has spent working on behalf of our staff, students, and community.” 

“While I am saddened by his departure, I am thrilled that he has taken a leadership role at one of the largest non-profit education organizations in the country,” Jones said of Riccards. “He is going to be creating positive change for thousands, upon thousands of children.   If he had to leave us, it’s comforting to know that his influence on education will only grow stronger and broader.”