Unsettled, novice Fayette school board faces big decisions on superintendent, COVID

These officeholders will be making unprecedented, crucial decisions affecting more than 40,000 Lexington students and their parents. But not one has more than three years of experience on the board overseeing the state’s second-largest school district.

The longest-serving member will no longer be in charge of the Fayette Public Schools board after colleagues opted for new leadership Tuesday night.

In the board’s favor: Most members are current or former teachers or principals recently backed by voters.

What’s ahead: returning to in-person instruction in a pandemic and replacing Superintendent Manny Caulk, who died in December, not long after district officials announced that he was on temporary medical leave.

Board members expect to hold a session in the coming week to determine what they want in the new superintendent they hope to hire by June.

Significant changes started Tuesday night.

▪ Stephanie Spires, board chairwoman since 2018, announced just before the five-member board elected a chair for the new year that she was stepping down. Spires said it was time for new leadership, but she would remain on the board, representing District 4. Appointed to the board in 2017 and elected in 2018, she has served longer than any other current board member. Her current term ends in 2022.

▪ The board voted Tyler Murphy as its new chair. Elected in 2018 to represent District 2, the Boyle County high school teacher has been outspoken, sometimes butting heads with Caulk and other board members as he called for more transparency. Both Murphy and Spires said they didn’t know if Spires would have had the votes among the five school board members if she had sought to be chairwoman again.

▪ Amanda “Amy” Green, who was sworn in to represent District 5 on Tuesday night, was named vice-chair. After representing District 5 for ten years, Daryl Love decided not to run for re-election, and Green won in a three-person race in November. Green, a former Fayette teacher and former University of Kentucky instructor who held key roles on a school council and the PTA, is now “a full-time parent,” according to the district.

▪ Tom Jones, a teacher and principal in Fayette County Schools for 27 years, was also sworn in Tuesday to represent District 3. He had no opposition in November after Ray Daniels, a school board member since 2016 who now chairs Commerce Lexington, decided not to run for re-election. Christy Morris, who was first elected in 2019 to represent District 1, also faced no opposition when she ran in 2020.

In a Facebook post Tuesday night, Murphy noted the important and pivotal time for the school district.

“The challenges we face as a district and community are great. But so too are the opportunities for us to come together as we engage in the critical work of public education,” said Murphy.

“I know that our Board team will be devoted to that work — to supporting our children, our staff, and their families in the midst of a global pandemic as we find a path to safely return to in-person instruction; to advancing equity in our schools and our community in both word and deed; to overseeing a transparent and inclusive superintendent search process; to engaging stakeholders at every level as we build community partnerships; and to advocating — always — for our public schools and the important role they play in our community,” he said.

Murphy told the Herald-Leader that he will listen and engage the community. He said he’s committed to transparency. Murphy said he thinks Fayette County has a strong school board team.

“I think it’s imperative that we work together,” he said.

Murphy said the board would hire a firm to help in the superintendent search.

The steps to hire a new Lexington public schools chief

District Human Resources Director Jennifer Dyar shared a timeline for choosing a superintendent. After a superintendent search firm is sought, a screening committee composed under state law of a school board member, a principal, two teachers, a classified employee and a parent will be chosen in January.

A search firm will be chosen in February and criteria for the superintendent position will be established. The position will be posted nationally, statewide and locally.

The search firm will vet applications in March. The screening committee will review applications in April and make recommendations to the school board. Students will also be asked what they want in a superintendent.

The school board will interview applicants in May and hold meet-the-candidate forums for the public.

The selection of the superintendent is expected to occur in June in hopes for a July 1 start date.

A wide net will be cast for the search firm, Dyar said.

Because of the timing of Caulk’s death, Fayette trailed other districts in the country already hiring from national candidates this year, Spires said. The pandemic had added pressure, she said.

Daniels, who was the board’s vice chairman until his term ended in December, said the superintendent is one of the most critical positions in the community because of the impact the district has on the economy and workforce.

“Before the pandemic and his passing, Superintendent Caulk had ‘righted the ship’ by preventing a state takeover and developing a strategic plan that has improved nearly every aspect of educational attainment for the district with equity at the core of that plan,” Daniels said.

Similar to the process of hiring Caulk, the current superintendent search must be transparent and include the community’s key stakeholders, he said.

KY expert: Get Black, Latino communities involved in decisions

The search committee will need to be clear in its recruitment effort that the Fayette superintendent, who is in charge of a $500 million budget, is not an entry-level position, and the person will be leading an urban district with a majority of low-income students, Daniels said.

“Commerce Lexington Inc. and the business community look forward to participating and supporting the search process, as well as continuing our partnership with the district on the Academies of Lexington model that is further enhancing our workforce pipeline,” Daniels said.

Brigitte Blom Ramsey, president and CEO of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, said for the district’s continued progress, it’s critical the new board continue to focus on both excellence and equity.

The first opportunity for the board to show those core values is in the development of the profile desired for the next superintendent, she said.

“With no person of color currently serving on the FCPS Board, and nearly half of the student body being Black and Latino, it’s incumbent on the new board to deeply engage Black and Latino communities in conversation about what FCPS families want in a new superintendent, as well as their vision for the education of their students,” Ramsey said.

“FCPS leadership continuing to focus on closing achievement gaps, and ensuring an excellent education for each FCPS student, regardless of background, is critical for the future of the district and the future of Lexington as a city,” she said.

On another front, some families have been angry that the Fayette has not returned to in-person learning while other districts in the state — and some private schools in Lexington and other cities — have tried widespread face-to-face instruction at least for a few weeks.

Fayette district officials decided not to open classrooms before Jan. 22 because of an increase in COVID cases. Only a few grades at a time will return when the district does resume in-person learning.

This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 11:46 AM.