Colleagues select Barrett as Madison elementary’s top staff member

Lindsey Barrett is the 2015 “Staff Member of the Year” at Madison Elementary School. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – Seeing a child excited about reading is a pleasure for Lindsey Barrett. She works as library resource assistant and is the 2015 “Staff Member of the Year” at Madison Elementary School.

Barrett has worked in this position since the 2010-2011 school year.

“This year, we welcomed ‘surprise readers’ to the library to read to students selected as our Accelerated Reader (AR) winner and their class during lunch,” Barrett said.

These “surprise readers” were Madison Board of Education members, retired educators, business owners and former Madison elementary students or parents. “I enjoyed greeting surprise readers, listening to them tell stories and watching the kids’ reactions. It was truly a rewarding experience for all,” Barrett said.

For Barrett, the most rewarding part of her job is working with students and “all the wonderful teachers and staff. I love it when I help a student find a book and their face lights up. The most challenging is when I cannot find a book that a student wants.”

Barrett hesitates to identify one student that stands out as a special personality. “Of course, avid readers, which we have many of at Madison elementary, are dear to my heart. I love it when they share how much they enjoy reading and what they have read recently,” she said.

At Memphis State University, Barrett earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in accounting. “I stayed home with my children for 17 years before returning to work as library aide. I do love my job,” she said.

Previously, she worked as an accountant for a defense contractor in Huntsville.

Her husband Robert works as a design engineer at ADTRAN. Their son Paul, 21, is a Bob Jones High School graduate and now a senior majoring in software engineering at Mississippi State University. Son Allen, 17, is a rising senior at James Clemens High School.