Estill County board honors members and celebrates middle‑school academic champions

The Estill County Board of Education opened a Jan. 22 special meeting in Irving by recognizing school board members and honoring student academic teams.

A visiting KSBA representative praised the local board as unusually focused on students and presented an appreciation letter signed by the KSBA director, Carrie Schilling. The presenter said small tokens and a candle were given to board members "as a very small token of our appreciation." Board members accepted the recognition.

Coach Ricky McCone introduced the middle‑school academic team and detailed the squad's recent results: quick recall and Future Problem Solving combined for an overall district championship with 68.5 points, compared with 17.5 points for the runner‑up. McCone said the entire team — including students who placed in mathematics, science, language arts and English composition — will compete at the regional tournament on Feb. 14.

"Our team played in four quick‑recall matches, and they were quick‑recall district champions," McCone said, noting several individual placements and that "everybody that's on the team is going to compete at regions." The coach urged the community to come watch quick‑recall matches, describing the format as intense and appealing to students who might not otherwise participate in extracurriculars.

The recognitions segment also included short videos from two elementary schools and expressions of thanks to local partners, including Carhartt and the Estill County Fair board, which were mentioned later in the meeting for their support of student events.

The board took no formal action during the recognitions portion and proceeded to personnel and business items later in the agenda.