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Shannon Kimball

Veteran Lawrence school board member Shannon Kimball defeated newcomer Ariel Miner for a two-year seat on the board in Tuesday’s election.

The two-year seat was originally vacated when former school board member Andrew Nussbaum resigned in 2021. With all precincts reporting, Kimball tallied 6,677 votes, or 51%, and Miner won 6,240 votes, or 47.7%.

Kimball, having secured her fourth term on the board, has served in various public leadership roles since 2008, including as a member of the Kansas Association of School Boards board of directors from 2016 until January of this year.

“I’m very excited to continue to have the opportunity to serve our students, our staff and our families,” Kimball told the Journal-World.

Kimball said she believes voters gravitated to the experience she “brings to the table.”

“They understand that’s really important,” Kimball said. “Especially right now, as we are continuing to really work hard to make sure that our district is the best district we can be for our kids.”

Kimball also said that a top objective moving forward is to “re-engage the community” around the goals of the district’s five-year strategic plan and “really get to work on focusing on those things.”

“It’s my hope that we get to spend time focusing on those issues that are most important for our students and their success,” Kimball said.