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Meet Craig Jones!
Meet Craig Jones, Bancroft’s Inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging
By Emily Baker
Bancroft School welcomed Craig Jones into the community on July 1 of this year, when he started his tenure as the new Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB). Before stepping into his new role, Craig was the School Counselor at The Wellington School, a PreK through 12 independent school in Columbus, Ohio. During his 27-year career in education, Craig enjoyed and felt confident in his professional counseling skills, but he was also drawn to the administrative aspect of schools. During his time as a counselor, Craig especially relished having conversations with community members about culture, lifestyle, celebration, and honoring the unique traits of individuals, while bringing them together to create a unified school community. Craig’s involvement and training both regionally and nationally allowed him to participate in DEIB big picture design, and coaching. His experiences as affinity group facilitator and a member of the Diversity Committee for Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) led him to make a full shift from school counseling to more dedicated DEIB work.
Craig was first drawn to Bancroft because he was familiar with the Worcester area, and because he saw the community’s willingness to work toward institutional change. Craig is a graduate of Holy Cross and lived and worked in Worcester for four years after college. Returning for his interview at Bancroft brought back many fond memories of his time in the city. Even more important for him was the impression that Bancroft was an institution excited about and ready for a deeper engagement in diversity topics.
While he was visiting, many people spoke of the community’s commitment to being open to change. He says, “I felt that if I were to take the job, it would not just be me pushing the values of DEIB work onto constituents, but rather, community members would support progress by being willing to make changes.” He also found himself compelled by the professional challenge of occupying an inaugural position; seeing an opportunity to develop the role from the ground up. Since starting his role, Craig has seen this eagerness from the community as he works alongside the Administrative team to weave DEIB awareness into the fabric of what he described as a “beautiful community.”
To ensure success in this new role, Craig has set both personal and institutional goals. His personal goal is to “develop genuine connections with the entire Bancroft community.” He wants to partner and work with as many constituents as possible. Learning about what makes people different while finding common ground will be the key to advancing the work of DEIB at Bancroft. He believes that having lots of conversations about everyone’s experiences and keeping in mind what makes each person unique will give his work a solid foundation. A look into his office gives a clear picture of his intentions: Craig has a whiteboard covered with various constituent groups, along with ideas about how he aims to connect with each of them.
His institutional goal is to ensure that “DEIB is not treated as an additional box to check, but becomes fully integrated into the campus and curriculum.” He wants families to be able to step on campus and immediately feel the energy of DEIB alive throughout the school. “It is important, when introducing any new program or ideology to campus, that it aligns with the mission,” Craig added, “and this work is undeniably aligned with Bancroft’s mission.” He also noted that this topic of conversation can be difficult to navigate, so it's important to stay consistent and true to Bancroft’s identity as a school in order to make the process beneficial for everyone.
Craig has found that he is still learning about Bancroft’s singular culture in all of its many facets as he looks for where his work can have the most positive effect, but he believes that the school is starting on a solid footing. Craig has begun his focus with faculty and staff, giving them the tools to provide education about DEIB to their students. Integrating diversity education seamlessly into the community and curriculum requires a slow and thoughtful process, and it is important to start with faculty and staff, since they interact with students directly and consistently. Examples of this integrated coursework can be seen in Friday Share in the Lower School, Circle Practice in the Middle School, and Community Lunches in the Upper School. At Lower School Friday Share assemblies, students learn the meaning of important DEIB-related words such as equity and belonging. Students perform skits to give the audience examples of what these words look like in action at Bancroft. During Circle Practice, different holidays and backgrounds are highlighted and celebrated, allowing for students to learn about different cultures. In the Community Lunches, there is a focus on bringing cultural identity to the surface. The idea is to celebrate our diversity as a community. Craig notes that with this timely integration the school is moving at an appropriate pace, with signs of positive acceptance.
With the goals set and work underway, Craig has demonstrated his willingness to help the School advance in diversity and inclusion work. We look forward to seeing what other positive changes he will bring to the Bancroft community.
