New FCCPS Superintendent to Sign Contract Tuesday Night

When Toni Jones was making plans to come to Falls Church from Oklahoma, she asked for one thing: A busy, full schedule. After visiting three of the four schools Monday (Jones will be at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School Tuesday) and looking for a place to live all weekend, Jones will make everything official by signing her contract at the Falls Church City Public Schools board meeting Tuesday night.

Jones will join the FCCPS staff on June 13 as a consultant before becoming the superintendent officially on July 1, said Joan Wodiska, chair of the board.

“I wanted a high performing district,” Jones said Monday afternoon at FCCPS central office. “They want a leader that can keep national and international recognition.”

Jones is the current chief academic officer for Deer Creek Public Schools in Oklahoma. Jones has a dual bachelor’s degree from the University of Nevada in special education and elementary education. She also has a Master’s degree as a reading specialist from Charles Sturt University in Australia. Jones earned her Doctor of Education in educational leadership from Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma.

Jones said she is excited to lead the district and wants to learn all she can before taking over in July. She said she wants to get to know the people she will be serving and the community. She said she wants to see what’s in place in the district before making any drastic changes.”

“I think you have to know where you are before you know where you are going,” Jones said. “I don’t want to take the vision from the district in Oklahoma or the district I was at in Sydney and bring it here.”

Wodiska said the board is excited to welcome Jones to Falls Church. She said Jones not only met the criteria the board set for candidates for the superintendent job, she said Jones exceeded in some areas. The board and Jones had been negotiating on a contract for some time now, Wodiska said, and that will all culminate with the signing Tuesday night.

“We are very excited we got her,” Wodiska said. “She’s spunky.”