Lexington middle school principal placed on leave; district cites ‘public nature’ of situation

Lexington’s Winburn Middle School Principal Mike Hale has been placed on administrative leave, Fayette Superintendent Demetrus Liggins said Tuesday in an email to families.

“Typically, we do not comment on personnel matters and cannot provide additional details at this time,” Liggins said. “However, due to the public nature of the situation, we wanted to provide timely information to families.”

Liggins did not elaborate on the “public nature” of the situation in the email.

“Per our normal human resources procedures, Winburn Principal Mike Hale has been placed on administrative leave. As with any personnel matter, we are unable to comment further,’’ said district spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall.

Assistant Principal BJ Martin will serve as acting principal, according to Liggins.

“We will work diligently to ensure there is no disruption to classroom learning during this time,” Liggins said in the email.

Hale became principal at Winburn in July 2019, according to the district’s website.

2020 social media post

In November 2020, the school district under the late Superintendent Manny Caulk launched an investigation over Hale’s personal Facebook post about the election that appeared dismissive of the COVID-19 pandemic and sarcastically noted that “cases should drastically dissipate after January since we can’t blame Trump any longer.”

Later, Hale issued an apology that said,“I did not intend for my statements to be divisive and I would like to apologize to anyone the post has offended. I know COVID is real and I meant no ill will or ill intent to anyone. I understand the gravity of the words spoken by people in leadership positions and I now realize as a leader you are always in the public eye.”

This is a developing story and may be updated.

This story was originally published April 11, 2023 at 5:50 PM.