FCPS superintendent: Potential school merging, program closure ‘just the beginning’

An upcoming Fayette County School Board vote on whether to close a program and combine two academies is “just the beginning” of difficult decisions in the district, Superintendent Demetrus Liggins said this week.

“These are tough decisions that have to be made by the board,” Liggins said Monday, as the district prepares to review the future of its 70 schools. “No one’s happy to lose their home school. No one is happy to lose their neighborhood school, their special program. It’s unfortunate that we are here. But it is the reality of our community at this point.

“This is just the beginning of the difficult decisions. It doesn’t make anyone happy, myself included.”

An unusually large number of people — 22, in all — spoke at Monday’s Fayette County School Board meeting. At issue were the district considering moving both the Rise STEM Academy for Girls and the George Washington Carver STEM Academy for Boys into a new building on Versailles Road that was intended only for Rise, and the potential closure of The Stables, a specialized program for students who want a smaller learning setting and emotional support through therapeutic work with horses.

Rise Parent Gemma Freeman, who is not in favor of putting both STEM programs in the new building, told the Herald-Leader Friday, “It is important that decisions regarding program closure and consolidation are not made one month into a 12-month review and that FCPS does not shepherd in a massive policy change unnoticed.

Nine of the speakers at Monday’s meeting were from Rise. They urged the district not to merge their school with George Washington Carver.

Eight spoke out against the potential closure of The Stables, which the district provides in coordination with the Central Kentucky Riding for Hope organization.

School board members said they were not ready to vote yet and pledged to continue to listen to families.

Liggins noted that Lexington is growing in some areas, resulting in packed classrooms, while other parts of the city are shrinking, and some schools are barely filled.

“We can not continue at this rate from a financial standpoint. We are not growing at a rate that we used to,” he said. “We have to do something in order to right size,” Liggins said.

Fayette County has faced severe budget problems in recent months, including a since-resolved, multi-million dollar projected budget shortfall and a dwindling contingency, or rainy day, fund.

“We cannot definitively state that school programs will close; however, we will initiate a redistricting process,” Tracy Bruno, chief of staff for FCPS, said in an email Thursday.

Bruno said the goal of current efforts, called “Right Size, Bright Future,” is to “appropriately size the footprint for school enrollment.”

After a public outcry, Jefferson County Schools recently paused a plan to close or relocate five schools.

Parent Sarah Flood-Baumann was among those who supported keeping Rise an all-girls campus at Monday’s meeting. She pointed to broken promises district officials have made to Rise families throughout its history, and the schools’ academic success despite that.

Flood-Baumann told the Herald-Leader on Friday that the students at George Washington Carver STEM Academy for Boys need a new space, but not the new Rise school.

“The boys deserve a space that is identity-focused and mission-aligned to their population, but that cannot happen at Rise, as both programs will be diminished, diluted, and stunted as a result,” she said. “We are asking the board to complete the yearlong review to explore all equitable options for GWC boys without compromising the single-gendered STEM education of Rise scholars and GWC gentlemen.”

“The research is clear,” said Rise parent Raj Datta, a national security federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice. “Little girls learn better in STEM when they’re in an all-girls school.”

Liggins said if the school board decides to leave the new building to the Rise Academy alone, and 900 girls are recruited to attend there, that will take 900 girls from another program and “leave various schools empty.”

“It does not solve the overall problem,” Liggins said.

Some speakers, however, spoke in favor of putting the two STEM schools in the new, $58.4 million building at Versailles and Mason Headley roads.

Calizza Farrell, a parent and PTA President at George Washington Carver STEM Academy for Boys, said the current building is not compliant with the American Disabilities Act. Its aging structure makes it difficult to provide the hands-on technology based project driven learning that STEM education requires, she said.

The current building is 86 years old.

Many of the students come from communities historically denied equitable access to opportunities, she said.

Receiving a modern building sends a powerful message, she said: “You matter. Your dreams matter. Your education matters.”

Camisha Boyd Powell, chairwoman of the district Equity Council committee, also spoke in favor of the move. She said she has received several calls and messages from parents at Rise who said they do not oppose sharing space with other students who need access to a safe, high-quality facility.

Those advocating for the district not to close The Stables said they were not convinced the district would keep promises to provide comparable services to students in other locations.

Students told board members they would not be succeeding in school — or be able to attend school at all — if not for specialized services at The Stables.

“Please don’t close our school,” said eighth-grader Kemarrez Storey. “I want to go to college. I want to make my family proud.”

Program details

Soraya Matthews, chief officer of student belonging and success in the district, explained Monday why those three specialized programs were first up for a review by a committee of community members, which will make recommendations to the school board.

Matthews said timing is a critical factor if any changes are to be implemented at the new school building. The new Rise building is set to open fall 2026 with a capacity of 900 students. She said The Stables program also needed to be reviewed first, in case the district made changes to its contract with Central Kentucky Riding for Hope.

Matthews said putting both STEM programs in the same building does not impact the district’s commitment to grow Rise enrollment from a K-5 school to a K-8 program.

In a presentation, Matthews showed that Fayette County schools have 41,520 students in 2025-2026. That’s down from 2024-2025 when there were 42,303 students. Every school and special program will be under review to see if resources are being maximized as the district works to improve its finances, Matthews said.

Matthews said the estimated maintenance costs if Carver students stay in the current building will be $3 million. The district’s current facilities plan calls for a new building for the Carver facility at a cost of $18.7 million. There are 144 students at the school, which was established in 2021.

The Rise STEM program for Girls, established in 2020, is in a temporary location at the former Linlee Elementary School until the new school opens in the fall. There are 242 students in K-5, with plans for a middle school after the new building with a capacity for 900 students opens in the fall.

The Stables, which began in 2012 school, has 37 students and recurring costs of $1.1 million to operate, district officials said. Although closing the program would bring cost savings to the cash-strapped district, the district would lose a unique therapeutic environment and lose specially certified staff, the community committee found.

School board response

School board vice chair Amy Green asked if members of the thoroughbred and equine community could offset costs at The Stables. Liggins said he had asked for a meeting with them.

Murphy said he had visited The Stables and the work “is incredible.”

Board member Monica Mundy said she would hate to lose The Stables “for such a small dollar amount.”

Board member Amanda Ferguson said everything about the new Rise building has been planned for female STEM students and questioned whether putting both programs in one building would harm both programs.

Mundy asked what changes need to happen to bring the schools into one building, because it appeared the finishing touches at the new school had already been decided.

Myron Thompson, chief operating officer for the district, said costs to put the boys’ academy in the new building with Rise were still being evaluated, but estimates show it could cost an additional $2.5 million.

Mundy asked if the boys’ academy could go into the new elementary school being built off Greendale Road in the Masterson Station area.

Liggins said he was “totally open to that” but there was a risk of having too few students in the building. Liggins said the district is adding school buildings but not growing the number of students in those buildings.

This story was originally published December 12, 2025 at 5:00 AM.