Board of Ed. buys property

The Escambia County (Ala.) Board of Education voted Jan. 23 to approve the purchase and demolition of property at 1649 Poplar Street in Flomaton to make way for new facilities at Flomaton Elementary School.

The school board purchased the property for $22,000 Jan. 2, utilizing local funds. Alan Associates appraised the property on Jan. 16 and determined to have a value of $28,000.

Creamer Dozer Service will demolish the house, remove trees, haul debris from the sight and provide fill dirt for the property for a cost of $12,000.

In other business, the board awarded the bid for an outdoor electronic marquee sign for Pollard McCall Junior High School to Signs Plus/Optec in the amount of $16,000. The Escambia County School system may choose to purchase signs for other school during the length of the contract period utilizing the bid award.

Escambia County High School student Madison Simmons was selected as a Montgomery Youth Tour winner through the South Alabama Electric Cooperative, held March 10 through 12. Simmons will visit the state capital in Montgomery, where she will learn about the workings of state government and the role cooperatives play in shaping important policies.

Escambia County Middle School entered two competitions and were recognized as they placed in each. John Stephen's class has 32 students competing in a global typing competition called Nitro Type based on speed and accuracy. Currently ECMS is in 55th place out of the 15,000 teams competing worldwide.

The school as a whole also participated in an Imagine Math Competition, where 99 schools representing 469 classrooms and 12,000 students competed. The following students were recognized during Award Assembly on Jan. 17 for their accomplishments in the statewide contest. ECMS students: completed or earned 1,900 math lessons out of a statewide 5,400; solved 63,000 math problems out of a statewide 178,000; and 1.2 million THINK points out of a statewide 3.5 million.

Nine students were accepted to the Southeastern United States Honor Band at Troy University and represented Escambia County High School on Thursday, Jan. 30 and Friday, Jan. 31. They also auditioned a second time for chair placement and played in the honor band concert at Troy last Saturday, Feb. 1. The students are: 11th grade, Tristan Ford on saxophone, Shakur Simmons on French horn, Madison Simmons on flute, Jaelon Wilson on tuba, Tyquan Valcourt on percussion and Jamarcus Leslie on clarinet.