First Bell: School board candidates campaign on Facebook; Pinckney ready for Saturday’s ‘300-family garage sale’; superintendent reports on Kansas Learning Network report

Three candidates for Lawrence school board are taking to Facebook to help find friends, collect “likes” and otherwise help get their messages out.

A rundown:

• Rick Ingram. The Kansas University psychology professor has had 19 people sign on as members for his group, Rick Ingram for the Lawrence School Board. (Also entertaining but completely unrelated: Elect Rick Ingram for Student Body President, an account for a student at the University of North Carolina.)

• Shannon Kimball. The attorney-turned-stay-at-home-mom launched Kimball for School Board, where she posts messages and links. She also has a website.

• Randy Masten. The retired Army lieutenant colonel and current KU doctoral student has Randy Masten for School Board, which includes contact information and links to his campaign’s website.

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Saturday is more than a chance to celebrate the Kansas sesquicentennial, or to watch Kansas and Kansas State battle in basketball at Allen Fieldhouse.

It’s also a chance to pick up some bargain items at what’s being billed as the “Really Big Sale,” set for 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Pinckney School, 810 W. Sixth.

The sale is described as a 300-family garage sale, only without haggling over prices on donated clothes, household items, toys, appliances, tools, furniture and more. Pinckney’s PTO uses proceeds from the sale to finance educational field trips for students.

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Superintendent Rick Doll and Kim Bodensteiner, the Lawrence school district’s chief academic officer, informed members of the Lawrence school board Monday about a “needs assessment” compiled by the Kansas Learning Network.

Now Doll has released a report of his own: an explanation of and response to the report, which was ordered by the Kansas State Department of Education after the district fell short of standards on assessment tests among certain student populations for two consecutive years.

— The First Bell e-mailbox is always open: mfagan@ljworld.com.