Zukeran ES: Administrator Bios

Dr. Lori Hill is excited for the opportunity to serve as the new Principal of Zukeran Elementary School. 

As an instructional leader, she is dedicated to promoting 21st century teaching and learning, high academic achievement, and college and career readiness standards. She believes the social-emotional health and safety of all students is paramount to success in school and life. As such, community collaboration creating a positive school and home-learning environment is essential. 

Dr. Hill comes to Okinawa from Kaiserslautern, Germany where she served as the Assistant Principal for Kaiserslautern Elementary School. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Marshall University in Communication Sciences and her Ph.D. from The Ohio University graduating Cum Laude with curricular focus in Autism Spectrum Disorders and Linguistics. As a military spouse, she has had the opportunity to experience diverse employment and has worked as the Director for private and non-profit organizations, Speech -Language Pathologist, Speech-Language Pathologist Assessor, and University Professor. She has served DoDEA in North Carolina and Spain.

Dr. Hill is married, has four children and two fur babies. Her husband “Doc” is a retired military physician who served with the US Army for over 30 years. He now enjoys a more leisurely pace as an Historical Fiction author. In her spare time, Dr. Hill enjoys reading, writing children’s books, and quilting.

Mr. Jones appreciates and understands the military community and the education of military children. His stepfather was a Navy Electrician Submariner, and his mother was a Music Teacher for elementary and college students.

Mr. Jones was born in Jacksonville, Florida. After graduating from Palm Beach Gardens High School, Mr. Jones attended Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. He went on to complete his Master of Arts in Education Teacher Leadership from the University of Phoenix.

Mr. Jones has been an educator for over 40 years, with 31 years serving our military connected students. Mr. Jones has served as a classroom teacher and educational technologist in various locations throughout the DoDEA Pacific Region. As a classroom teacher, he has a strong belief in infusing technology into the education of our students. Mr. Jones, through his Educational Technologist role was able to provide leadership and support by mentoring fellow DoDEA educators in the area of educational technology throughout mainland Japan from Misawa and down to Okinawa.

Mr. Jones became the Assistant Principal at Zukeran Elementary in early 2019.