TIPS Volume 3, No. 7
March, 2003

     Grade Level Key 
     = Elem, = Middle
     = High, = Teachers

Barbara Barr, Technology Resource Teacher

Barbara, like a lot of the members of the Office of Technology, has strayed a ways from home! A native Badger, she was born in Fond du Lac, on the shores of Wisconsin' s Lake Winnebago, and graduated from high school in Madison. She has a Bachelors in Education and History from Coe College in Iowa. While in Texas, she obtained a certificate in early childhood education, and a Masters in Education from the University of North Texas. She has taught in North Dakota, Iowa, Texas, and Kentucky, and has been a corporate trainer. Before she began her tenure with the Fayette County Office of Technology in the fall in 2001, she had served at the district level in Madison, Wisconsin and Jessamine County in Kentucky.

Mrs. Barr has been an enthusiastic and hard-working TRT for Yates, Landsdowne, and Harrison Elementary Schools. In addition, her responsibilities have included collaboration with the grant writing staff at Fayette County, and she is a frequent trainer for afternoon professional development classes at Ambrose Lab. She is particularly versed in the "one computer classroom," and has lots of examples and materials in support of such integrated use.

When not pursuing her professional responsibilities, Barbara likes to play bridge, golf, and do Web page construction. Husband A.T. is an avid custom knife designer who often travels to shows, bringing his wife along (see A.T's web page at  http://www.customknives.com ). Barbara has three daughters and four grandchildren, and she and husband A.T. live in Jessamine County with their two cats Kamere and Kitty, Kitty "...you know, 'Come here, kitty, kitty!"

A native Lexingtonian and Lafayette High graduate ("...you don't need to know the date!"), Mrs. Strassner has been with Fayette County Schools for nearly 25 years. Along the way she has taught kindergarten at Cardinal Valley, fourth grade at Julius Marks, and second grade at Arlington, eventually becoming their media specialist - a position she hung onto for 16 years. She joined the Media Services offices in October of 2001.

Nancy holds a Bachelors of Education, a Masters of Library Science, and has also earned a Rank 1 - all from the University of Kentucky. At Media Services, she describes her job as "...providing individual and formal professional growth for Fayette County Public Schools' Library Media Specialists relative to programming, copyright and intellectual freedom, collection development, research, standards and policies and public relations; assisting new/inexperienced LMSs; maintaining and providing awareness of the Media Circulation for and to FCPS teachers; coordinating centralized library services relative to bids, new school collections and facilities, renovations, etc..."

In the small amount of free time she has, Mrs. Strassner likes to dance, play bridge, read, travel, and eat out. She also attends the concerts of husband Gene Strassner, who plays trumpet in the Oleika Shrine Band, and a swing-style big band called "The Young at Heart" ("...and they're good!") Son Bryan has degrees in engineering and business and works locally, and son Jason is slated to graduate from the University of Florida in May with a degree in physics. Gene and Nancy live in Lexington.