Signed contract, financial penalty does not exist, Fayette superintendent admits

Fayette County Superintendent Demetrus Liggins acknowledged Monday that district officials provided inaccurate information about this week’s two-day school board retreat and the possible two years of team building training that could follow.

At a July 14 meeting, board member Amanda Ferguson had said she might not attend the two-day retreat because other board members did not speak to her and they were not a team.

District officials had indicated at that meeting that they may have to pay more to the Council of Great City Schools if she didn’t attend, but Liggins clarified Monday night that was not true.

Liggins said there is no financial penalty if all school board members don’t attend the two-day retreat. “However, it’s not best practice obviously if we are going to be a team of six,” he said.

The board has not yet voted on whether to proceed with the two-year training.

“The entire discussion from the July 14 meeting, that was about a contract that at worst, didn’t exist at all. At best, had not been approved by the board and had never been executed,” Ferguson said Monday night.

Liggins confirmed at Monday night’s monthly school board the service agreement with the Council of Great City Schools was never actually put on the board agenda again after it had been postponed in 2023 when a former board member resigned.

He said in 2023, the school board at that time agreed to engage in the Council’s team-building training. They had a two-day retreat but after a board member resigned, the district never proceeded with the two-year training.

The contract was removed from consideration until a new permanent board was seated, Liggins said.

After the July 14 meeting, Ferguson brought the lack of a signed contract to Liggins attention.

“I’ve heard from a lot of people that they don’t think its a good use of our money especially given our projected deficit,” said Ferguson. District officials have said FCPS has a projected $16 million deficit.

Liggins said the two-day retreat can proceed this July 31 and Aug. 1 even without formal board approval of the contract. The session falls within the scope of services already provided by the district’s membership in the Council.

Liggins said he didn’t immediately know how much the district pays to be a member of the Council of Great City Schools. The idea of the training is to strengthen the board to improve outcomes for students, he said.

The board can discuss next month or later whether they want to enter into the two-year training contract, he said.

If the “full governance team,” defined as all five elected board members and the superintendent, participates in the full training series, the cost to the district is $45,000 per year over two years, for a total investment of $90,000. Some of the initial information came from a Council official.

If the full team does not participate, the cost increases to $100,000, not $200,000 as officials originally said.

Ferguson did not say Monday night whether she would attend this week’s two-day training.

This story was originally published July 29, 2025 at 2:49 PM.