News Releases
May Employee of the Month:
 Barbara Brisson, Title I Program Assistant, Lincoln School
“Dedication” is the first word her nominator uses to describe Barbara Brisson, Title I reading program assistant at Lincoln School, but to that description adds “mentor” and “leader,” calling her “an exceptional member of the Lincoln family.”
Barb is completing her ninth year with the district and Lincoln School. She works one-on-one each day with kindergarten, first-, and second-grade students who have been identified through diagnostic testing as needing additional assistance with reading—part of the district’s KIP (Kindergarten Intervention Program), FLIP (First-grade Literacy Intervention Program), and SAIL (Second-grade Acceleration in Literacy). She has worked with primary students for the past five years, but before that, she worked with intermediate students at Lincoln.
“Barb is sensitive to her students’ strengths and weaknesses,” her nominator said. “She is genuinely interested in each and every child she works with and believes all can learn and be successful at reading.”
Barb finds her job very rewarding. “I think we’re doing a good job,” she said. “We’re making enormous strides toward closing the reading gap.” Her nominator pointed out that Barb has attended many workshops, classes, and conferences on various topics “to expand her understanding and knowledge of the reading process and the academic, social, and emotional needs of children.”
Her involvement with Lincoln goes beyond tutoring the students assigned to her. From decorating the Learning Resource Center for the school’s “Reading Night” to using her volunteer connections to make it possible for all five classes of third graders to have the opportunity to build an educational model rocket, Barb is always willing to offer assistance to students and staff alike.
Barb grew up in North Riverside and now lives with husband Glen and their two daughters, Debbie, 24, and Nicole, 22, in Kildeer. Glen, an electrical engineer, has his own firm specializing in design of biomedical equipment, and Barb also works for the company. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University in home economics education and did graduate work at Northern Illinois University. She taught high school home economics at Prospect High School in District 214 for ten years. “I tend to volunteer a lot,” she chuckles, recalling her extensive involvement in Girl Scouts and “the PTA thing.” For the past five years, she has accompanied Glen, a pilot who recently built his own airplane, to the Experimental Aircraft Association fly-in convention in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. She spends the week there volunteering with the Estes Rocket Company in KidVenture, a program which involves kids attending the convention in building educational rockets. When she’s not volunteering, Barb enjoys gardening, home decorating, and she and Glen enjoy traveling, particularly visiting national parks.
Barbara will be recognized at the May 11, 2005, Board of Education meeting, to be held at Walter R. Sundling Junior High School, at 7 p.m.
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