John Fenton

John hides the fact that he’s a bad ass. He’ll fool you that way.

You’d never know he was trained to take beaches under fire, that he’s licensed to approach the Bench and that now, in his new job, he’s expected to disarm children with unusually difficult lives.

“Like my father, I was fascinated by military history.” John Fenton says. “I always wanted to be a Marine.” I needed to get out of Canton and I needed a good kick in the behind. He enlisted right out of high school.

After Parris Island — where every recruit gets a kick in the butt — John was assigned to an infantry unit that deployed in the Philippines, Japan and Korea. He and his unit prepared for mountain warfare and fought wildfires in Yellowstone.

After his time in the Corps, John signed up for another challenge.

He earned a Poli-Sci undergrad degree, took his J.D. at USC and went into the practice of law. He represented K-8 school districts, educating administrators about the realities of employment contracts. He manned the barricades and drew fire away from his clients, semper Leatherneck.

Slowly, my friend was drawn to the classroom. He thought he could do good there. He went back to school in his mid-forties so he could teach History and English. He did a lot of studying at our local coffee place. He hadn’t planned on Special Education but his first contract is working with students who attend a combination of regular and special classes.

The process can be bruising, he says. Some people are in denial and place the wrong kind of pressure on their students. He will watch closely for students who show signs of “turtling.”

As a temp he routinely stood in front of kids he had never seen before. He loved that adrenaline. Survival, John says, depends on showmanship and the ability to project confidence. My job is to convince children that their lives can improve and that I’ll help make it happen. Just the right kind of work for a bad ass.