Greenwich superintendent joins advisory council at Stamford Museum

Greenwich School Superintendent Toni Jones will be putting her expertise to use at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center.

She recently joined its newly formed Science Advisory Council, which was created to guide the design and development of its new Astronomy & Physical Science Center.

Jones joins educators from the Stamford Public Schools, the Bedford Public Schools, Sacred Heart University, Columbia, Brown, Yale and the University of Connecticut as well as the chair of the Connecticut Science Teacher Association.

“She is passionate, dedicated and focused in her approach to creating the best environment for all children, staff and families in her school district,” museum officials said in a statement.

The planned Astronomy & Physical Science Center is part of the nature center’s master plan to build capacity for its educational and public spaces.

The new 8,000-square-foot center will expand the existing observatory and combine it with a full planetarium and a new venue. This facility will feature a 100-seat planetarium auditorium, a science lab classroom and a public outdoor viewing deck that leads to a dome housing a 22-inch research telescope.

The space will also serve as a center for science, technology, engineering, arts and astronomy and math education, supporting the Connecticut state standards and the new Generation Science Standards.

To complete these projects, the museum initiated a capital campaign that has raised about $9.5 million of the $15 million needed to invest in the astronomy and physical science center.

The museum’s original planetarium opened in 1958 and was renovated in 1974. The Stamford observatory opened in 1960 with a historic 22-inch research telescope and is now closed due to serious disrepair.

Jones is a career educator with 30 years of service in both public and private schools. She left Fairfield Public Schools this summer to join Greenwich schools. Before leading schools in Connecticut, she worked in Virginia and Oklahoma, as well as Australia.

Jones earned a dual bachelor’s degree in special education and elementary education from the University of Nevada in Reno. She obtained a master’s degree in literacy from Charles Sturt University in Australia, and a doctorate in educational leadership from Oral Roberts University.

For more information, visit www.stamfordmuseum.org.

See original article on The Register Citizen or The Greenwich Time by Jo Kroker.