Board members press Fayette superintendent for report on Henry Clay ‘creature’ sightings

Fayette school board members are pressing Superintendent Demetrus Liggins for a report on what he is doing about environmental problems at Lexington’s Henry Clay High School.

Parents, teachers and students have drawn attention to a snake and a mouse falling from ceilings at Henry Clay High School that caused safety concerns this fall. The Herald-Leader has reported that district documents show additional infestation complaints that included more vermin, flying birds, ants and a raccoon.

Other concerns over mold, missing ceiling tiles, dilapidated furniture and poor heat and ventilation at the building — which opened in 1970 and was renovated in 2006 — were also raised in more than 350 pages of emails, inspections and other documents obtained by the Herald-Leader under the Kentucky Open Records Act.

“We’ve received countless phone calls and emails” and encounters from people who want to talk about conditions at the building, Fayette school board member Tom Jones told Liggins at the January 6 Fayette County Public Schools’ board meeting.

Parents have come to multiple school board meetings to talk about conditions there, Jones said: “That’s gone on for quite a while.”

“I feel like there’s some substance to the concerns and to the complaints that have been registered,” he said. “I feel like it behooves the board at this time to ensure that the district is responding to address these facility issues.”

District officials said it would take four or more years to rebuild Henry Clay due to the way the building is configured.

“What has been done? What else needs to be done?” Jones asked. He suggested the school board have a meeting at Henry Clay High School, and perhaps let board members inspect the building.

Board member Amanda Ferguson said she knew there were concerns from parents, students and teachers.

Board chairman Tyler Murphy asked Liggins if he could get them a report on what had been been done about Henry Clay High School.

Liggins replied “absolutely.” But Liggins also said:

“I don’t want to set precedence that when the Herald-Leader posts something that we have to chase after it. I think it sets a bad precedent. We have new buildings that we have to do maintenance to,” he said. “Not to say Henry Clay doesn’t need a lot of work and we have done lots of things there.”

Board members said there were complaints outside the newspaper’s coverage.

“This dynamic where the Herald-Leader casts Fayette County Schools in a terribly unfavorable light is one that I despise,” Jones said. “On the other hand when there’s been so many conversations, there’s been so much communicated to us...we have to ask you to provide us with some information about what is reality.”