From the bureau to the blackboard: Former FBI agent teaches in Beecher City

Feb. 3—Service can take a variety of different forms, some of which are often overlooked. John Brown, who is in his second year teaching at Beecher City High School, knows all about that.

"He's one of the most amazing people I've ever met, and for a school like Beecher City High School to have someone like John Brown around is just incredibly remarkable," said Brock Friese, the school's dean of students.

Prior to teaching, Brown served in both as an Army officer and an FBI agent, giving him a breadth of knowledge and perspective.

According to Brown, due to the travel his FBI career demanded, he and his wife, Jackie, have moved more that 40 times since they married.

"Before we got here we had spent Christmas in a different house for five years," Brown said.

Most recently, Brown was stationed in Washington, D.C., but his work with the FBI has also taken him to Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and a number of other cities across the United States.

Brown even made a couple of trips overseas. He spent some time in Iraq while working with the FBI, and he was deployed to Afghanistan when he was in the Army.

Brown served seven years in the Army and served in the FBI for nearly 22 years until retiring from the bureau in April of 2021.

"I was a special agent, and then I was in leadership at the end of my career," Brown said.

After years of moving from city to city, Brown is relieved to finally settle in a home in Shumway.

Brown said he moved to the Effingham County to be closer to his family.

"The reason I'm here is because my oldest daughter, her kids, and her husband moved here," he said.

Brown said he didn't know he'd end up teaching when he initially left the FBI, but he knew he wanted to continue serving his community in some capacity.

"I didn't want to go in the corporate world," Brown said.

He also said he knew he wanted to do something that had little or nothing to do with security.

"I wanted to do something totally different," he said.

After moving to Beecher City, Brown was driving past Beecher City High School in July of 2021 when he decided to go inside and introduce himself to the school's principal.

It was during this visit that Brown also met Beecher City Superintendent Philip Lark.

Brown asked if he could do anything to help, and sure enough, the school had an opening.

"They had a little teacher gap on the business side, so I was brought in as a permanent sub," Brown said.

Not long after, Brown obtained the necessary certification through the Illinois State Board of Education and began teaching.

Brown said that similar to working with the FBI, teaching is difficult, demanding both time and effort.

"Teaching's hard work, really hard work," he said.

Brown believes that any act of service, no matter how small it may seem, deserves appreciation.

"What they're doing here is really important," Brown said of all staff, faculty, and administrators working in Beecher City Schools.

"Whether you're trying to effect programs at a macro level or a micro level, I think what everyone is trying to do is important to the whole of our society."

This understanding of service is what Brown says led him to join both the Army and the FBI.

Brown's father served as a deputy sheriff while his mother worked in a pen factory.

"That hard work and that service was instilled with me early, so I was drawn to the bureau's mission of defending the country," Brown said.

Brown spent much of his career with the FBI and was eventually promoted to positions of leadership within the bureau which included being named executive director of the National Security Branch by FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Brown's FBI background has given students the opportunity to learn about cyber security from someone with years of experience in that area in a class being offered for the first time this year.

"We're really excited about it," he said. "You're basically working on two computers, and kind of working against one computer to understand how cyber intrusions, hacks, would work."

Additionally, Brown teaches courses on personal finance, business law, and leadership.

In addition to teaching, Brown is also the head coach of the Beecher City Junior High baseball team.

Despite this being his first time coaching, Brown's background has provided him with an abundance of leadership experience.

"Part of leading is coaching," Brown said. "You learn early in the Army about leading."

Brown also recently returned to military service, joining the United States Army Reserve.

"I'm honored to be back into that," Brown said.

When he's not busy, Brown enjoys spending time with his family, including all four of his children; two followed his military footsteps.

"My daughter is a Navy officer and my son is an Air Force officer," Brown said.

Brown said one of the things he likes the most about Beecher City is that it reminds him of the small farm town he grew up in.

In addition to appreciating the smaller classrooms and individual attention Beecher City High School offers students, Brown said the entire community makes Beecher City a great place for anyone to live and raise their children.

"I think that it's a gem that a lot of people don't think about," he said.

Brown hopes to have the same positive impact on students as the teachers he remembers from his days in school did on him when they encouraged him and informed him of all the opportunities available to him.

"We've got some really talented kids here," Brown said. "And I think they'll have a lot of opportunity when they leave here."

Nick Taylor can be reached at nick.taylor@effinghamdailynews.com or by phone at 618-510-9226 or 217-347-7151 ext. 300132.