John Ashton puts down the phone. He’s been calling every school he can in hopes of getting a teaching job. No response yet. Maybe it’s just best to give up at this point.
Then, one day, he notices that he has a voicemail message. It’s from Warren Foxworth, former Head of Middle School, and he wants to make an offer.
Ashton didn’t know it yet, but what followed was a long journey – one that forever changed the direction of his career and his life – taking him across various schools and the country.
He started his career teaching at public schools in Indiana, but he found himself in Dallas, with no stable job. That’s when the call came in.
“I was interviewed in the summer for a position here and was very fortunate to get into middle school humanities,” Ashton said. “I was an attendance clerk, I did the Pecos and I coached middle school football, wrestling and baseball. So, in my first year, I loved every minute. It was great.”
Taking on many roles right from the start, Ashton quickly eased into the school and got used to the various responsibilities that he was given. By his second year, he received a full-time teaching position. However, his career would then take an interesting turn.
“My wife and I married, and we decided in 2002 to move to the state of Washington, where I taught at a university,” Ashton said. “My wife is a physician, so she wanted to try what it was like to be a small town rural physician and pediatrician. So we moved to this small town with 15,000 people.”
After a few years in Washington, he decided to return to Dallas and get back into high school education.
“There wasn’t a position at St. Mark’s at that time, so I was fortunate to be appointed to the English department chairman of Episcopal School of Dallas (ESD),” Ashton said. “ It was my first experience as a school administrator.”
Even though he was at ESD, he still couldn’t shake his connections with his first teaching job in Dallas. When the position of Assistant Head of Upper School here became available, he quickly jumped onto the opportunity, now armed with administrative experience.
“I came back to St. Mark’s in 2005, and I was the assistant head of Upper School,” Ashton said. “I did that for four years, and I loved every bit of it.”
But Ashton felt ready for something new and more ambitious – a position like Head of Upper School. However, with all the positions here taken by close friends of his, that idea looked uncertain for him. Luckily, a perfect opportunity opened at Hockaday where his daughter was already attending.
“I thought I might have to leave to do that, but I didn’t want to move out of Dallas,” Ashton said. “And so at that point, Hockaday was doing a search for a head of Upper School, and I was appointed.”
Ashton spent his longest time yet at Hockaday, leading the Upper School and gaining invaluable experiences and memories. Then, longtime friend David Dini was appointed Headmaster here.
“Mr. Dini and I had known each other since I first came to St. Mark’s in the mid ’90s,” Ashton said. “So we’ve been colleagues and friends for for decades. At one point, we started to see a possibility of being able to work together and be a team.”
Not long after, Ashton moved into his next position, Associate Headmaster – one that he continues to hold. But students, who see him make announcements every Friday during assembly, now may know him best for his role of Interim Head of Upper School. He has assumed the role twice, both before and after the short tenure of Colin Igoe serving in the position. He will be stepping down from his role after this year, with William Atkinson ‘95 becoming the new Head of Upper School. With his new, more open schedule, Ashton will be able to focus more on his Associate Headmaster position while also returning to passions he temporarily put on hold.
“I’m excited about teaching English in class next year,” Ashton said. “And I’ll return to being an advisor at some point, too. So I look forward to getting involved in those things again.”
His desire to teach and help students grow into the best people possible is rooted in his own experience as a student and his appreciation for his own mentors.
“The impact that my teachers and coaches had on me is what really got me into teaching,” Ashton said. “I always had teachers and coaches who reached out to me, who helped me make the right decisions when I needed to – they cared about me.”
And now, he takes that same approach to helping the students under him. As he looks forward to his new opportunities and the new memories to come, he feels as excited as ever.
“I’m excited for St. Mark’s,” Ashton said. “We’re a place that never stops moving forward. We have aspirations. All of us here on the faculty and staff are stewards of this moment to care for and advance the mission of the school and the experience that Marksmen have in the future.”
