Lori Reneau is seeking a seat on the Great Bend USD 428 School Board. Lori has lived in Great Bend for the past 20 years. She received her high school diploma from Chaparral High School in Anthony and her associate’s degree from Barton Community College. Lori and her husband, Kenny, have been married for 21 years and have two children in the school district. Keaton is a sophomore at Great Bend High School and Ethan is a 6th grader at Park Elementary School. For the past 20 years Lori has been employed full time as a Certified Evidence Control Specialist with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. She is also member of the KBI Peer Support team which responds to critical incidents all over the state of Kansas.
Since 2004, Lori has been a member of Park Elementary PTA, Great Bend Middle School PTA, and Great Bend High School Booster Club.  Currently and for the past 7 years she has served as president of the Park Elementary PTA and has worked closely with staff and students in the school. She has handled the finances for the Park Elementary PTA, fundraisers, traveling sports teams, and the KBI employee funds. In the past she has volunteered as a coach for numerous sports with the Great Bend Recreation Center. Lori and her family are members of the First Christian Church in Great Bend and volunteer and help there as needed. Her record shows that she is a passionate and self-driven advocate for all students and staff of USD 428. She cares about their interests and will strive to make sure opportunities are equally distributed to each individual and school in the USD 428 district.
Through her many years of volunteering at USD 428 schools, Lori has demonstrated that she has the qualifications it takes to be an effective board member. Here are a few of the qualifications she feels are most important: an effective communicator – be able to describe what students need and be a good listener; be a consensus builder – work towards decisions and achieve goals that benefit the district; a community participant – attend meetings and events within the district and meet a variety of people in the community; a decision maker – be aware of other decision making styles and encourage cooperation and compromise to achieve goals; information processor – organize priorities and schedules to handle verbal and written information.
As a board member she believes it will be important keeping schools on track, setting policies that benefit our children and staff, setting visions and goals for the district and holding the district accountable for their results. Lori promises to contribute her own unique talent while working as a team with other members. With her past and current involvement in school organizations she has proven she is willing to commit not only to the School Board of USD 428, but to the students and staff of the district.