About Dee: Hammond resident with a son, Brandon. Attended Sawyer and Midland colleges. Employed by School City of Hammond since 1997. Served on board of directors for Hammond Education Foundation, Ophelia Steen Family and Health Services Center and Indiana Partnership Center. Member of Bethlehem AME Zion Church in Gary.

Accomplishments: Dee Jones is a Title One family involvement facilitator at Irving Elementary School. Her job is to get parents involved in the education process. To that end, she holds workshops, monthly parent meetings and offers English classes for Spanish speaking parents. There is a lending library housed in school for parents. Jones facilitates parent volunteer activities in the building that include assisting teachers in the classroom or lunch room, listening to children read or working with children. "Any way parents can support classroom teachers," she said, "and I have great parental involvement." Her work includes getting parents to pledge three volunteer hours at school during the school year; an initiative through Indiana PTA called Three for Me.

"That's how I got involved in school, as a parent volunteer when my son was in school. I recognized there was a great need for parents to be involved in the process," she said. A member of PTA since 1995, Jones served as the first African-American president of Indiana PTA from 2005-07. She was PTA president at Irving and is currently president at Hammond High School. She also is vice president of the Northwest Region for PTA and federal legislative committee chairman for national PTA and Indiana PTA. "PTA empowers parents to be able to help their children," she said. Additionally, Jones is volunteer coordinator for the First Midwest Robotics Regional Competition and on the planning committee for a Latino resource fair that was held this weekend at Irving Elementary School.

Personal heroes: "My grandparents. They were so instrumental in rearing me. I credit them with who I am today."

What I read: "Anything inspirational and motivational including The Bible."

Advice: "It's important that our children know how much we care for them. We should remember the children we're raising today will be serving us tomorrow."

How to get involved: For more information, visit www.pta.org.

People might be surprised to now: "I graduated from cosmetology school, Debbie's School of Beauty in Illinois."

- SUE BERO, Times Correspondent

To nominate someone for this feature, e-mail slbero@hotmail.com.