Interviewed in her office in the historic Havemeyer building this week, Greenwich Schools Superintendent Dr. Toni Jones talked about some of the topics of the day.
Dr. Toni Jones in her office in the Havemeyer building on Greenwich Avenue. Jan 13, 2026 Photo: Leslie Yager
Just in time for the next BOE business meeting this Thursday, Jones shared good news about the school bus parking situation.
The dilemma over bus parking stemmed from the new contract with DATTCO, the transportation company that replaced First Student.
When the schools operating budget was cut $4.1 million by the Board of Estimate and Taxation last spring, the BOE sought savings that didn’t reduce staff. The district changed bus companies and, while controversial, changed school start times to also reduce costs of transportation.
The new bus contract saved almost $2 million, but the district has been unable to find parking for 80 yellow school buses (including the small buses, which have been parking at the Old Greenwich Train Station).
View of St Paul’s Church on King Street from its parking lot. Photo: Leslie Yager
View of St Paul’s Church on King Street from the front. Photo: Leslie Yager
Muddy field where buses were parked at Western Middle School in December. Photo: Leslie Yager
Fortunately, Jones said as a result of an agreement with St Paul’s Church on King Street, the district was able to remove buses from Julian Curtiss School’s staff lot on Sunday. Staff had been parking in the grass.
Also she said, a portion of the buses parked at Western Middle School – about 25 – will relocate to the church parking lot for the remainder of the school year.
“We’re starting to move some of the buses over from WMS – about half,” she said. “The ones on the grass can go. The ones on the asphalt are still temporarily there.”
The agreement with the church will come as good news to neighbors of Western who have complained about pollution from idling buses, beeping, increased traffic and, recently, lots of mud in the grass field as well as along Western Jr Hwy.
“We’re continuing to get a more permanent solution, the property we’re renting is capped by (town hall Planning staff) at 35 buses,” Jones said on Tuesday. “We think we’re closer to a permanent solution. We’ve looked at over 48 different places. Once we solve this issue, it will save the town millions of dollars over time. That’s why we’re willing to struggle through it.”
Greenwich Superintendents Revolving Door
In Greenwich, where many people with long memories refer to the “revolving door” of superintendents, Jones has bucked the trend.
Not since Ernie Fleishman, who served from 1976 to 1989, has any superintendent lasted longer than Jones.
The next longest service was Dr. John Whritner who served from 1990 to 1997 (6 years).
Jones is now in her seventh year on the job, having started in July 2019, following the departure of Jill Gildea, after one year Ralph Mayo served as interim for one year.
Having grown up in Oklahoma, Jones has been both a teacher and administrator, including positions as superintendent in Falls Church, VA and Fairfield, CT.
Last May, the BOE voted to extend her contract by two years – through June 30, 2028 – though three of four Republicans on the board wanted to delay the vote.
The vote on Jones’ contract extension for two years to June 30, 2028, was 5-3, with three Republicans voting against – Cody Kittle, Wendy Vizzo Walsh, and Michael-Joseph Mecanti-Anthony – saying they wanted to wait until the budget process for 2026 was complete.
The Democrats, plus Republican Jen Behette, disagreed, tipping the vote in favor of the extension.
In the background of the contract extension is the First Selectman’s lawsuit against the school board for their emergency meeting where they voted to for Ms Behette to fill the opening left after Republican BOE chair Karen Kowalski resigned citing a move out of town.
An October 2025 letter from the then BOE Repubican caucus (Paul Cappiali, Cody Kittle, Michael-Joseph Mercanti-Anthony and Wendy Vizzo Walsh) said Mr. Cappiali was the legitimate appointee, not Ms Behette. “Because of these actions and the refusal to work toward bipartisan solutions, the Board now faces the possibility that an entire year of meetings and votes may be voided,” they wrote.
Greenwich Town Clerk Jackie Budkins shakes Paul Cappiali’s hand after swearing him in at the Nov 20, 2025 BOE meeting. Cappiali, the town’s harbor master, was part of the Republican BOE slate, elected in the Nov 4, 2025 municipal election.Photo: Leslie Yager
While the state FOIA commission ruled in October 2025 that the October 2024 Board of Education emergency meeting did not meet the standard of an emergency and was therefore null and void, the lawsuit is ongoing.
As for an entire year of meetings and votes possibly being voided, one of those votes was on Jones’ contract.
“I have not been involved in that court case at all,” Jones said during her interview this week. “It’s a strict Board of Education issue.”
She added, “I love my job or I wouldn’t have stayed. There are lots of superintendent openings.”
“Every day is different I love being focused on what we can do better for students. I enjoy the work,” she added.
Schools Operating Budget, Enrollment and Reductions in FTE
In December the BOE voted 7-1 to pass Dr. Toni Jones’ $207,178,854 operating budget, as presented, for the 2026-27 school year, though during public comment many students, parents and teachers shared concerns about reductions in Full Time Equivalents of staff (FTEs) and lost opportunities for students following several years of previous cuts.
Jones explained to the board that the budget appeared lower than it was, given recent state legislation allowing school boards to carry over unspent funds into a new reserve account, letting them use surpluses for future educational needs.
She said her proposed budget actually represented a 4.4% increase.
In this week’s interview, Jones elaborated, saying the BOE’s 7-1 vote in favor of her proposed budget reflected the numerous hours that board members spent reviewing and asking questions about the budget.
“In the end we had had a member (Bob Chaney) who wanted to add $200K, but the proposed budget had the support of both parties.”
Jones said it was a misperception that the budget was low.
“It’s a larger percentage (increase) than people think because of the additional money we had for the bus contract. We are at the guidelines, because this BET supported to utilizing the $2.5 in the non-lapsing account to count as part of the base.”
“People think it’s a budget below guidelines, which is part of a misunderstanding,” she said.
That said, she explained reductions in FTE reflect declines in enrollment.
“We’re down hundreds of students even from when I started. We always reduce FTE – we’ve been in an enrollment decline,” she said.
“This year people are saying we’re cutting teachers, but there won’t be one teacher laid off and there hasn’t been. The only time we laid off was last year, with the challenging reduction $4.1 million, and the media assistants (were reduced).”
Last month Jones said enrollment across the district’s 15 schools has dropped by 843 students since she arrived.
Asked about the public comment at recent BOE meetings, including stories of students being shut out of requested classes, Jones said scheduling at GHS is now automated, where previously it was hand calculated, with students getting about 76% of courses they requested.
“This year it’s in the high 90%,” she said. “Sometimes you get one person who didn’t get something they wanted – not everyone does – one student talked about their AP class of 26 students.”
Jones said she investigated the complaint, and indeed one section of the particular AP had 26 students, but the other two sections had just 16.
“It’s a question of why the student couldn’t be in one with 16 students,” she said. “That’s the kind of work we do all summer long.”
“We’re always going to have some classes smaller and some that are larger. It’s the nature of the large schedule we run. Some are singletons where they only have one section of a class.”
Jones said she takes notes during public comment so she can investigate and follow up.
“We’re dealing with people’s children and there’s nothing more important. If someone is upset, we try to figure out a way to help. I listen carefully and follow up.”
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SBA Test Scores
Jones said she was thrilled over Greenwich’s 2025 SBA test results. SBA is short for Smarter Balanced Assessment, mandatory for public school students in Connecticut.
“We’re so excited, this is the best year we’ve had under this assessment system in Connecticut,” she said. “I’m so thrilled with our three Title 1 schools. It’s the first time Greenwich has seen this kind of success.”
“Our curriculum team has worked to hard to make sure our buildings have all the materials they need,” she added.
The results have extra significance given Greenwich’s number of ELL students and free/reduced lunch students are both higher than towns like Darien and Westport.
Jones said the the test scores reflected strong curriculum and professional development.
She talked about the importance consistency across buildings.
“If you go from one elementary school to another, you’ll see the same high quality instruction happening,” she said. “If you go back even 7-8 years ago you’d see 11 different approaches to mathematics.”
“We’d also like consistency across departments,” she continued, adding that it was especially important in the three middle schools.
“Timely grading was a new (regulation) this year. If you were a teacher and gave 5 grades this semester, that would not meet the (district’s) consistency regulation. They don’t have to give 55, but you can’t also just give five.”
English Language Arts, Math and Science scores across districts.
Central Middle School Open Enrollment
Jones said so far there were about 17 students due to enter 6th grade next fall who are otherwise districted to EMS or WMS who are interested in attending Central Middle School.
The open enrollment survey went out again last Friday.
She said while EMS is the most populated of the three middle schools, it was built to accommodate 900+ students.
Today, with 740 students enrolled, EMS is not at capacity.
“It’s going to be beautiful,” she said, of the new CMS, adding she expects its enrollment will increase as it did at New Lebanon School.
“At Parkway School, enrollment is on the way back up too,” she said.
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Dec 21, 2025