Bob Byers

Bob Byers is back on the Lawrence school board after a little less than two years away.

During its Monday meeting, the board selected Byers from a field of 13 applicants to replace Keith Diaz Moore, who resigned in May to accept the position of dean of the University of Utah’s school of architecture.

Byers, who served from 2009 to 2012 and is also a member of the district’s financial advisory committee, was selected as the first choice of four of the board’s six members as each discussed his or her top selections. An eventual motion to appoint Byers passed unanimously.

“I thought it was a good opportunity to get re-involved,” Byers said after the meeting.

A community member for more than 30 years, Byers is a charter member and past president of DADS of Douglas County and a member and past president of Equity Council for Lawrence Public Schools.

The position to which Byers was appointed will run through June 30, 2015. Board member Adina Morse encouraged the remaining applicants to run in the next school board election in April 2015.

Also Monday, the board approved a $7.5 million bid for bond construction at Cordley Elementary, one of 10 projects underway this summer and part of a $92.5 million bond issue that will affect every school.

Built in 1915, Cordley is the district’s oldest continuously operated elementary school. Students and staff will use the former East Heights Elementary School this coming school year while construction at Cordley continues until August 2015. Among the improvements will be shifting the security entrance, expanding the library, adding classroom space and creating new loading areas for students and buses.

Also Monday:

• Monday served as the final meeting of the 2013-14 fiscal year and thus was Rick Ingram’s final meeting as board president. Shannon Kimball will begin her tenure as board president at the board’s next meeting on July 14.

• Superintendent Rick Doll awarded the 2014 Outstanding Citizen Award to Jerry Jost, who is an original member and leader of the local education advocacy group Educate Lawrence. Jost called the award a reflection of the work his group had done.