‘How skilled are they?’ Fayette superintendent finalists face questions from public

A leader who can address Fayette County Public Schools’ decades-old inequities. That’s what Julie George and her daughter Dorothy Claire George said they wanted in the next superintendent as they saw five finalists Wednesday.

“You can have a school that’s the best school in the state and two miles down the road have a school that’s struggling,” said Julie George, whose 16-year-old attends Bryan Station High School. “I just want to see more of an equitable distribution of resources. I want all the schools to be valued. I want people to not be afraid to go to certain schools. “

Gerry Brooks, a Fayette substitute administrator and a nationally popular educational speaker, said he asked superintendent finalists about their plans to make sure that “equity included all students” and that diverse administrators and teachers were recruited.

An estimated 200 to 250 people gathered at Lexington’s Frederick Douglass High School Wednesday night to question the candidates in individual conversations. The candidates are: Christopher Bernier, chief of staff of the Clark County, Nev., school district; Melvin Brown, superintendent of the Reynoldsburg City Schools in Ohio; Angela Dominguez, assistant superintendent of academic services for the Edgewood Independent School district in Texas; Tawana Grover, superintendent of Grand Island Public Schools in Grand Island, Neb.; and Demetrus Liggins, superintendent of schools in Greenville Independent School District in Texas.

Fayette school board chairman Tyler Murphy said the five finalists were chosen from 50 applicants. Murphy said a final decision could come as early as Thursday after the school board deliberates.

However on Thursday morning, Acting Superintendent Marlene Helm announced that a school board meeting had been called for 10:30 a.m. Friday to take possible action regarding superintendent candidates.

The board has been searching for months for a replacement for Superintendent Manny Caulk who died in December 2020.

On Wednesday night, Dorothy Claire George said that “school budgets reflect what is valued.” Like others, she thinks the district spends more on police officers in schools than on counseling and student support services, but the district has said that’s “absolutely untrue.” She and her mother talked to the finalists about spending priorities.

“I don’t like my children walking into a school with five police officers staring at them like they’ve done something wrong before they’ve entered the building and I’d like to see that not be how we treat our children,” Julie George said.

Carol Gullett, who runs an organization called “4Kids” in Fayette public middle schools, said she wanted to know how the superintendent candidates felt about partnering with community organizations and partnering with people who are invested with students.

“The constituency is broad,” she said. “Managing their time well and meeting the needs of everybody is a very, very difficult job. So how skilled are they at that?”

Julia Bennington, a social worker at Lafayette High School and the chair of the district’s LGBTQ Advisory Committee, said she asked the finalists what actions they would take to ensure that policies are in place to support LGBTQ youth in schools.

Bennington and other staff, parents, educators and community members said they were generally impressed with the answers they received from the candidates.

Fayette superintendent candidates make final pitches

In interviews with reporters, candidates noted they had been through a rigorous vetting process.

Bernier said he believed he had “a wealth of experience beyond what the other candidates have” in that he had worked in large, complex districts similar to Fayette’s and even bigger. He said he talked with school board members about trusting him with the future of the district’s children and the community, and about being a responsible fiduciary and a good steward of the public tax dollar.

Bernier said he had family members who work in Lexington as a nurse and a police officer.

Brown said he would work on equity issues, as did the other candidates. He said all kids have an opportunity to be successful.

While he is superintendent of a school district smaller than Fayette, Brown said he has worked in bigger school districts and knows how they function.

He said people in Lexington are interested in “getting back to school and making it as normal as possible” after the COVID pandemic. Brown says his experiences match well with what the district wants to accomplish.

Managing a school district of more than 40,000 students is “all about having the right people in the right places,” making systems work and being highly visible, Dominguez said.

“I have very strong belief systems about how kids are first,” Dominguez said.

Grover said she knows she is the person that Fayette County Public Schools is seeking in its next superintendent.

“Equity, diversion and inclusion is top of list,” Grover said.

“Parents are concerned with the COVID slide, “ Liggins said. He said he would make sure that students were caught up and they get opportunities to improve.

Liggins said he had worked in districts as large as Fayette County. “I feel that I have a skill set that is next to none,” he said.

Ray Daniels, a former member of the Fayette County Public Schools board and currently chair of Commerce Lexington, said he was looking for several qualities in the district’s next leader.

“My expectation for a candidate for superintendent of Fayette County Public schools is someone who would be actively involved in our community, someone who will assure that we have equity all across the school district and someone who will be supportive of all of our partners and stakeholders, “ said Daniels.

This story was originally published June 3, 2021 at 7:53 AM.