by Ben Overby
The Paducah Sun
October 21, 2025
Used with permission.
Students from across Paducah Public Schools ran the show at Monday’s board of education meeting as part of the Bobby L. Jones Student Leadership Program.
The idea for the program, started in 2002 and named after Jones in 2004, the year following his death, was originated by the past board of education chair to build leadership and public speaking skills and teach students about the inner workings of a school board. Students participate in training activities on policy and procedure through McCracken County’s 4-H Youth Development program before the annual tradition of the student-run meeting.
The student representatives included Payton Fowler and Angelique Hernandez from Paducah Tilghman High, Aaliyah Bennett and Gabrielle Ross from Paducah Middle, Booker Blackmon and McKinley Wilkinson from Clark Elementary, Aaram Agee and Magnolia Spurlin from McNabb Elementary and Olivia Eskridge and Elliot Snow from Morgan Elementary. Holt Shively from Paducah Tilghman was unable to attend.
Jones’ brother, Jewel Jones, attended the meeting and offered words of encouragement to the students.
“I’m so proud to be here and so impressed with the students,” Jones said. “I appreciate Dr. Shively continuing to make it happen. Students get to approve agendas and make motions, and they look so adult. I’m so proud of you guys, and it shows leadership, because you had to meet a requirement to get here. Continue to show excellence and continue to be a leader so that you can move forward.”
The meeting was called to order by Tilghman student Angelique Hernandez, who also serves as a junior board member at regular meetings. She introduced the program, and fellow Tilghman student Payton Fowler listed the student board members in attendance. They, along with the remaining students, took turns reading agenda items and calling for, approving and seconding motions as the meeting continued largely as usual.
In an interview after the meeting, Superintendent Donald Shively praised the job the students did running the meeting and said the program is an excellent educational activity for the participating students.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for our students to gain leadership skills and focus on community service, and we are very focused on building leaders,” Shively said. “It’s an opportunity for our students to learn and understand that the board of education oversees the school district and what the superintendent’s role is and how that impacts student learning. They see the impacts from a board setting policies and procedures, approving budgets; you get everything from making motions to public speaking for our students. It’s super encouraging to see that we have that.”
One motion passed in the meeting was the approval to name a classroom in Paducah’s Innovation Hub after class of 1960 Paducah Tilghman graduate Robert H. Grubbs, who received a 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Grubbs, who passed away in 2021, was inducted into the Paducah Tilghman High School Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Dr. Robert H. Grubbs Memorial Scholarship, for seniors excelling in science and chemistry who plan to pursue further study in science, was established by his sister Bonnie Berry in May of 2025.
“We have a strong history of excellence in Paducah public schools,” Shively said when recommending the motion. “As a chemistry major, I think it’s so cool that we’re sitting here talking about a graduate from 1960 that won a Nobel Prize, from these very halls that we’re connected to. I think it’s something we should be proud of, and it’s a well-deserved honor.”
Shively said the district will likely work out the specifics of what classroom will be named for Grubbs over the next week, with an announcement at an event planned in November for the Paducah Innovation Hub’s fifth anniversary.
“It’s a little bit of a five-year look back on the Paducah Innovation Hub,” Shively said. “When we were envisioning this facility, what that vision was and what we were communicating to our community we would accomplish. This is a little bit of a report card on that, and at the same time, that will be coupled with all the different business and industry partnerships that we have through the Paducah Innovation Hub. All that’s highlighted together in one night coming up in November.”