By Janet Wetzel
Enquirer contributor

Laurie Barrett, center, Co-Chair of the Family Involvement Program at Cottonwood Elementary School greets Eric Williams, 9, and his mother Krystal Mays during the Back to School Picnic. (Sarah Conard/The Enquirer)

When the school day's over, teacher Laurie Barrett has the usual papers to grade. But her homework doesn't end there.

She moves on to the Cottonwood Family Involvement Program, a volunteer project she helped found at Cottonwood Elementary School in Finneytown.

As a parent and Title I reading specialist at Cottonwood, Barrett has long been convinced that parental involvement improves a child's educational experience. So in 1988, she jumped at the chance to help build a volunteer project suggested by Randy Parsons, then principal of Cottonwood and now district superintendent.

Barrett, 54, lives in Finneytown with her husband, Ted. She has been a PTA board member since 1988 and was named PTA Educator of the Year for Hamilton County in 2002.

Her three children are grown, but Barrett continues as a program volunteer about 10 hours a week, year-around, not counting dozens of hours devoted to special events.

The program, which has grown to about 30 volunteers, includes family fun nights, welcome coffees, math night, picnics, parenting workshops and free child care for parents to attend school conferences and other functions.

"We've seen incredible evidence of the good of this program. Our motto, 'Together everyone achieves more,' says it all," Barrett said.

The Cottonwood school won a national partnership award in 2001 through the National Network of Partnership Schools. Since then, the Family Involvement Program has spread to the district's Brent and Whitaker elementary schools.

Karen Mahan, a parent on the committee since it began, called Barrett "an incredible blend of professionalism, humility and kindness. She's been a blessing to me and the program. This is an incredible program, and we all take pride in it."

Barrett said it's all "just so important, I can't quit. I coordinate, I facilitate, I motivate and I support. I have a passion for this. But this is a team effort. Many working together."

Do you know a Hometown Hero - someone in your community dedicated to making it a better place to live and helping others? E-mail Janet Wetzel at jjwetzel@siscom.net, or fax to 513-755-4150.