Lawrence school board members don’t tend to shy away from commenting about legislation that affects Kansas school districts, but one board member is taking his commentary to a wider audience.

Over the past month, school board Vice President Marcel Harmon has written three pieces for the news and entertainment website Salon that have generated several hundred comments. The most recent, titled “Sam Brownback declares war on Kansas: This is how extremists gut a state — and democracy” was published on Tuesday.

A piece Harmon wrote a few weeks ago, titled, “Sam Brownback, America’s worst governor: He’s gutted Kansas with an ultraconservative, religious agenda — and it’s getting worse”, was shared more than 10,000 times on Facebook. It also prompted a reaction from the Kansas Policy Institute, a conservative think tank. The reaction piece, “Lawrence school board member makes many false claims in angry rant”, was written by KPI president Dave Trabert and criticized Harmon’s “cruel, angry tone.”

Links to all three of Harmon’s recent essays are available here.

In other news and notes:

– Fifth-graders at Broken Arrow
Elementary will have their Math
Awareness Month Workshop from 8:50
a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

– The Prairie Park Elementary Run
Club will meet from 1:45 p.m. to 2:45
p.m.

– The Schwegler Elementary BOGO
book fair will be from 8:45 a.m. to 6
p.m. The marathon club will meet from
2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. The PTA
dine-out night at Taco John’s will be
from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

– Seventh- and eighth-graders at
South Middle School will have their band concert from 7 p.m. to 8
p.m.

– Lawrence High School will have its middle school sport info meeting
at 7 p.m.

Lunch menu options:

Elementary school level

Main dish: cheese pizza; hummus with cheese and pita bread; peanut butter and jelly with string cheese; chef salad with breadstick

Sides: roasted broccoli, salad bar, fruit cocktail, milk

Middle school level

Main dish: cheese pizza; hummus with cheese and pita bread; peanut butter and jelly with string cheese; chef salad with breadstick; hamburger; spicy chicken sandwich

Sides: roasted broccoli, salad bar, fruit cocktail, fruit juice, cream of broccoli soup, fresh fruit, milk

High school level

Main dish: French toast sticks with sausage; scrambled eggs with waffle or biscuit; biscuits and gravy with sausage; grilled cheese; deli bar; pizza; cereal with string cheese; parfaits with muffin; hummus with cheese and pita bread; peanut butter and jelly with string cheese; chef salad with breadstick; daily sandwiches

Sides: baked southwest potato, waffle fries, fruit sorbet, fruit juice, fresh fruit, oven potatoes, salad bar, creamy tomato soup, milk