Union leader says she was escorted out of Fayette County school board meeting

An organizer with a major educators’ union in Kentucky says district officials asked her to leave and escorted her out of Monday’s emotionally charged Fayette County Board of Education meeting where details of the district’s financial troubles were revealed.

Interim Fayette Schools Chief Financial Officer Kyna Koch said during the meeting that Fayette County Public Schools had often operated outside of state, federal and accounting practices and financial records have been fundamentally misstated for years The district will have to take out a short term loan and cuts are pending to both non-teaching district jobs and work days.

Upon hearing that and other bad news about district finances, Laura Hartke, who’s part of the union KY 120 United AFT, said she commented “wow” in a normal voice.

District officials told her to stop, she said, but she continued to speak to the person sitting next to her. She also told Matthew Vied, a parent who spoke at Monday’s meeting and has repeatedly spoken out against the school board and district leadership over financial issues, “that we all felt what he was saying.”

That’s when, Hartke said, officials “told me I had to leave and escorted me out.”

“I find it sad that they are so concerned with dissenting voices that they’re just continuing to silence people,” Hartke told the Herald-Leader Tuesday.

Fayette County school district officials would not comment Tuesday on Hartke’s account of the meeting.

During the meeting, school board chair Tyler Murphy told the meeting audience, “If you have any conversations that need to happen, I ask that you have those outside of this room. We are here to hear information that this board needs to hear, that our community needs to hear in order to move forward.”

The meeting room was packed Monday, and several attendees spoke to the school board, criticizing district officials for not acknowledging and acting on financial problems earlier.

Over the weekend, Hartke called on Murphy, vice-chair Amy Green and Superintendent Demetrus Liggins to resign, citing district “incompetence and wastefulness.”

“The entire community has been bringing these issues up for almost two years now and every single person who tried to bring it up was accused of spreading false narratives or treated as if they were too stupid to understand what was happening,” Hartke said in a Facebook post.

Liggins has emphasized to FCPS staff and other district officials that he wishes the district were not in this position, and says he and other leaders are working to correct longstanding finance issues. When announcing expected job cuts and reduced hours to employees, Liggins said the news was “painful.”

“I I know it creates uncertainty, frustration, and fear. And I want you to hear directly from me that I do not take that lightly. These decisions impact real people. Real families. Real livelihoods. They affect individuals who have poured their hearts into this district and the children we serve,” Liggins wrote.