Education is sort of like a family business for Bibb County Superintendent Curtis Jones. His mom was a teacher, his dad a preacher who, Jones explains, did a lot of teaching, too. But Jones didn’t get into this business right away. He spent 20 years in the military attending West Point and rising from an infantry officer in Germany and Georgia to Comptroller at the Pentagon with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
A desire to have his children grow up near their grandparents brought him back home to Barnesville, Georgia. The leadership skills honed in the military came in handy when he accepted a position with the Griffin-Spalding County Schools. Jones started off with the Junior ROTC program and ended up running the district.
“For me, it’s all about leadership. Leadership-education leadership, military leadership, it’s all the same. It’s about having a team that comes together that has a mission and a plan and being able to implement,” says Jones.
Jones married his high school sweetheart Evelyn more than 40 years ago. She’s a teacher, too, and her boss is also her husband. Curtis Jones was the superintendent when she was a principal in the Griffin-Spalding district, and he’s her boss now in Bibb County where she is a part-time academic coach.
I asked, “Do you get any special perks being the superintendent’s wife?” She answers, “No, I didn’t get any special perks. He’s not going to show any type of favoritism, not even for his own child or wife -- the expectation is the same for everyone.”
But that’s part of the reason Evelyn says she loves him. “I love that ethical piece about him because that just speaks to his character, and that's the part I love about him most."
The two have three children and three grandchildren. In their free time, they enjoy time at Falcons games and shows at the Fox Theatre. Dr. Jones is also a gamer -- he likes to blow off steam with his Playstation.
In December, Superintendent Jones was named Georgia Superintendent of the Year, which put him in the running for National Superintendent of the Year against three other superintendents from Texas, Indianapolis, and Idaho. On February 14th, Jones was awarded the new title by the School Superintendents Association, or AASA, at their 2019 National Conference on Education in Los Angeles.
Jones said winning would be a big accomplishment -- not so much for him, but for the entire district, “I think that’s going to lead to more in the community recognizing the great work we’re doing having the confidence and trust there."
