2015 Lawrence school board candidates

Get ready for the 2015 Lawrence school board general election on April 7 by reading up on the candidates and comparing their answers to a Journal-World questionnaire.

Mary Loveland and Marcel Harmon, two candidates with experience serving on the Lawrence school board, beat out their two other opponents in the primary election for the open two-year term on the district’s governing body. They will go head to head in the general election.

Also on the ballot will be seven other candidates vying for four other seats for four-year terms. A primary election was not needed to narrow down that field.

Read up on all the candidates below, and find more information about the school board and city commission elections at LJWorld.com/vote2015.

Two-year term

Profiles:

• Marcel Harmon, 46, first joined the board in September 2014 as an appointee following the resignation of Adina Morse. He works for an engineering firm, M.E. Group. He served on the Kansas Next Generation Science Standard Review Committee.

• Mary Loveland, 66, served on the school board from 1987 to 2003 and again from 2007 to 2011. She has worked as an organizer for youth sports leagues and served on boards for the Kansas University Alumni Association and the Kansas Memorial Union.

Questionnaires:

• Marcel Harmon

• Mary Loveland

Candidate selector quiz:

• Decide which candidate(s) you agree with the most

Other:

• LJWorld.com: ‘Loveland, Harmon win school board primary, will face off in April 7 general election’

• LJWorld.com: ‘Lawrence school board candidates see a new elementary or middle school coming soon’

Four-year terms

Profiles:

• Jessica Beeson, 38, is the director of alumni and community engagement for Kansas University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She also works as a lecturer for KU’s leadership studies minor and for the African & African-American Studies Department. She has served on the Elementary Facilities Task Force and the Superintendent’s Advisory Council in past years.

• Bob Byers, 60, served on the board from 2009 to 2012. He was appointed to the board in June 2014 following the resignation of Keith Diaz Moore. Byers is an administrator for the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

• Jill Fincher, 47, is a board member for the Lawrence Schools Foundation, which raises money for the district. She has also served on boards for the Lawrence Public Library, the Ballard Center and several parent-teacher organizations for Lawrence schools. She manages a family business based in British Columbia.

• Lindsey Frye, 34, is a denied medical claims collector for Apria Healthcare in Overland Park. She is also a member of New York Elementary’s parent-teacher association and site council.

• Ronald “G.R.” Gordon-Ross, 40, is a health care IT professional. He volunteers at Prairie Park Elementary School and served on the district’s Elementary School Facility Vision Task Force, which was charged with studying how to make schools more efficient.

• Rick Ingram, 60, was elected to the board in 2011 and spent the 2013-14 school year as its president. He works as a professor of clinical psychology at KU. He also sits on the district’s Boundary Advisory Committee, which recommends changes to school attendance zones.

• Shannon Kimball, 41, was elected to the board in 2011 and currently serves as its president. She works as an attorney with a focus on legal and policy issues relating to public schools.

Questionnaires:

• Jessica Beeson

• Bob Byers

• Jill Fincher

• Lindsey Frye

• Ronald “G.R.” Gordon-Ross

• Rick Ingram

• Shannon Kimball

Candidate selector quiz:

• Decide which candidate(s) you agree with the most

Other:

• LJWorld.com: ‘Lawrence school board candidates see a new elementary or middle school coming soon’