Riccards Voted New Chair of FCCPS Board

The start of the new fiscal year, the beginning of Dr. Toni Jones era and fittingly, the naming of the new chair of the Falls Church City Public Schools all came on July 1.

Pat Riccards ran unopposed and was unanimously named the new chair of the FCCPS board during the school board’s organizational meeting Friday morning at City Hall. Susan Kearney, who also ran unopposed, was named the vice chair. First on Riccards’ to do list is finding out a way to complete a revenue sharing agreement with the City of Falls Church.

“We really need to look into revenue sharing,” said the newly elected school board chair. “We need to figure out how the schools we have get funding moving forward. Other school districts in the area are doing that as well.”

With only members of the school board in attendance, including new superintendent Jones, the whirlwind meeting in City Council chambers sped right along tackling personnel appointments and resignations and other board business. Jones opened her first meeting and orchestrated the vote that saw Riccards named new chair. Riccards is replacing Joan Wodiska who has served as chair of the board for the last seven years. She will move on to become the president of the Virginia School Boards Association. The association represents all 134-school divisions in the commonwealth. Jones is replacing Dr. Lois Berlin as superintendent of FCCPS. Berlin announced her retirement in November and the hiring of Jones was announced in March.

Following her first school board meeting as superintendent, Jones said she is excited to be in town. She said she is looking forward to getting acclimated to the area and meeting more FCCPS stakeholders.

“I’m looking forward to working with a board that’s supportive and has the students best at interest,” Jones said. “My interview process started pretty early and I was able to follow what the board was doing either via taped or live video feeds. For me now, it’s about meeting people.”