Kimberly Persons enjoys seeing children’s smiling faces, stopping to help tie a shoe or just hearing about their day. She is Staff Member of the Year at Madison Elementary School.

As a clerical aide, her main duty is to assist parents and visitors when they enter the school or call on the phone. She checks students in/out, verifies identification, takes messages and delivers items, like forgotten books and lunch boxes.

She also communicates changes in bus transportation with teachers and sometimes communicates with local day cares and bus drivers. Other duties are helping students when a teacher sends them to the office and updating spreadsheets with student data.

In previous jobs, Persons has rented cars, assisted a florist, worked as receptionist and coordinated production for the TV show, “The Alabama Traveler.”

She is a Decatur native and moved to Madison in 1991. “The small-town feel keeps me here,” Persons said.

After attending Calhoun Community College, she graduated from Faulkner Christian University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

She was a stay-at-home mom for almost eight years. “I knew it would take (time) to adjust to joining the workforce again. The office staff and entire faculty at Madison elementary welcomed me with open arms into their school family, which made my adjustment almost effortless,” Persons said.

“I couldn’t ask for a better group to work with and to each I am grateful for their support,” she said.

She and husband Tom have one child, Micah, 14, who is an eighth-grader at Discovery Middle School.

Kimberly enjoys watching Micah play soccer, spending time with family including their dog, Tak, and ‘hanging out’ at Starbucks.