The Red & White

During assembly on Friday, September 12th, Xander Jones, dean of students at St. George’s, was awarded the TABS Burch Ford Kaleidoscope Award. TABS is an acronym for The Association of Boarding Schools. According to TABS, this is an award granted to a boarding school administrator who has “Shown an exemplary spirit of vocation, a devotion to service, and a leadership gift” and “Modeled inspiration, commitment, and integrity as a person and as a professional” I sat down with Jones to hear how he came to St. George’s and what this award means to him.

Jones described himself as being “kind of born into it (boarding schools).” He and his sister grew up on a boarding school campus where his parents worked. His own career began at Salisbury School in Connecticut. After two years of working there, he took on the role of Assistant Athletic Director, which is where his career in administration began. This career has spanned over the past seventeen years, ten of which he’s spent at St. George’s. Here, he worked under former Dean of Students, Derry Mason, before claiming the role himself.

When I asked Jones what the most important parts of his job were, he responded, “I think the important aspects of being in this role are being present and visible. I think having the ability to make connections with the student community, with the adult community, is really, really important. And the best ways to do those things are to not hide in your office all day… being able to get out and see, to see the campus, to see the kids, to see your colleagues, while possibly difficult, is really important.”

Of course, discipline is a sizable portion of the job as well, and it leads many deans to be viewed as people who are there only to punish the students. Jones, however, claims that that’s only about five to 10 percent of his job.

We also talked a bit about Jones goals for the school. He told me, “When I think about the opportunities for students, my hope is that they take advantage of what is in front of them in this environment… Students have the opportunity to try something here and learn if it might become a passion. If they try it and they decide, you know. I’m happy I tried it, but it’s not for me, that’s just as good. So I guess if I had a goal for the school and for the students of the school, it would be to create an environment where people feel it’s safe to take a risk, a healthy risk.” He recounted his own experience of being forced to take an art class in high school. The class, called acting improv, had such a profound effect on him that he stated, “I truly don’t think I’d be in the role I’m in today (if not for taking it). It taught me so much:”

“It was a shock to receive it. I admittedly had never even heard of it:” This was Jones’ first response to my question of what the award meant to him. His next words, “I think what it means to me is that I’ve done enough to make a positive impact on others:’, reflect everything he’s said before about being in tune with the community, and his belief that this is primarily a supportive role, rather than a punitive one. He also acknowledged the people who helped him along the way. “While I was one of the handful getting recognized for this award, it’s not without tremendous help from others… I think of my parents. I think of my past colleagues and mentors, and I think about my current colleagues and mentors. Awards, individual awards are about more than just that person. There’s a whole ensemble cast that helps with all of those things. Whether that’s through mentorship, whether it’s through direct and actionable tasks, or idea creation. It’s never about one person.”

At the end of our conversation, I took the opportunity to ask Jones about his dog, Moose. The presenter of the Kaleidoscope award mentioned that he was a gift from students, which many of us were unaware of. The plan to get him a dog was a very poorly kept secret. Jones recalls that “In January (2023), kids in the senior class started asking me. “If you were to have a dog, what kind of dog would you like?” I was like, what? And then in February, the questions kept going, but it was like, every now and then I’d catch something?” Finally, the mother of a student involved in the operation told him about the plan. He recalls not taking this seriously or thinking it would actually happen.

However, he said that in March, “A small handful, like three or four of the kids, came into my office, which was upstairs, and were like, we found you the dog. Will you accept it? I really thought this was a joke the whole time. I didn’t think they’d actually have the ability to pull it or But they did, and after checking with some other faculty members to make sure it was appropriate, Jones accepted the gift. “Yeah, so, April of 2023, he made his first appearance on campus. He’s had a good time ever since.”