Branching out as an Antiracist School: Lisa White Jones

An FSS educator for over two  decades, physical education and dance teacher Lisa White Jones recently added lower school Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) student engagement facilitator to her roles. In this new position, Lisa will create and facilitate DEI-focused lower school initiatives, assemblies, and affinity groups.  

Last year, Lisa helped develop the Big Sibs program to connect lower and upper school students of color in an effort to build one-on-one, interdivisional connections within the community. “Younger children benefit from forming meaningful relationships with older students whom they can relate to and rely on,” she shared. “One of the main goals of Big Sibs is to establish a partnership young students can depend on at the school.”

Lisa has consistently integrated DEI work into her teaching career and has attended the People of Color Conference (PoCC) as well as the Race Institute. In her new role, Lisa taps into her own upbringing. “As a Black person, DEI work is what I live,” she said. “I grew up learning about race and having conversations about likenesses and differences, which were presented to me in a way that never made me feel afraid or uncomfortable.”

Lisa hopes to create spaces for younger children to be their authentic selves through lower school affinity groups. “As we say in our alma mater song, Friends Select is very much our ‘home away from home,’” she shared. “I want to uphold that sentiment for our students, who are sometimes here for up to 10 hours every day. I want them to feel they are appreciated for who they truly are when they are at Friends Select.”