Email allegedly used as ‘threat’ by FCPS superintendent was falsified, law firm says
An email that Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Demetrus Liggins allegedly slipped under the office door of a Kentucky lawmaker and Fayette County Public Schools employee last month purporting to be from a law firm threatening legal action for defamation was falsified, according to the law firm.
The email claimed to be from lawyer Heather Gatnarek, with the firm Kaplan, Johnson Abate and Bird. It said the firm had met with Liggins and determined that some of the widespread criticism of his leadership amounted to defamation.
Liggins allegedly slipped a printed copy of the email under the door of Rep. Adrielle Camuel, an administrative assistant in the district, as a "threat” to silence her from continuing to criticize Liggins and the embattled school district, Camuel’s lawyer said Saturday.
The Herald-Leader obtained a copy of the purported email, which was dated May 19.
But later Saturday, the law firm said it did not write the email and has never worked with Liggins.
“Heather Gatnarek did not author the email included in the article. Nor did any attorney at her firm, which has never represented or offered any advice to Dr. Liggins,” the firm wrote in a statement to the Herald-Leader.
The law firm’s statement came hours after Camuel’s lawyer, Hannah Wilson, confirmed to the Herald-Leader that Camuel had reported the incident to the district on June 5, days before Liggins told the school board he wanted to negotiate a separation agreement that included a year of financial compensation.
After some confusion over whether that notice qualified as a resignation, the board on Wednesday, June 10, voted unanimously to put Liggins on paid leave pending a resolution of information the board had “received this week.”
Liggins’ lawyer, C. Ed Massey, who does not work for Kaplan, Johnson Abate and Bird, told the Herald-Leader on Saturday evening he didn’t know who wrote the purported email and he would “continue to search for the truth.”
Earlier Saturday, Wilson had told the Herald-Leader she had doubts about the email’s authenticity.
“Just knowing how attorneys write, something immediately seemed off about the way it was drafted,” Wilson said. “Then we noticed that the email address was different than the email address listed on the law firm website for that attorney.”
The email read, in part:
“Quite frankly, the more we have looked into this, we have been disgusted by some of the rhetoric, behavior and obvious defamatory conduct that has surfaced, including knowingly false accusations, reckless amplification of rumors, targeted harassment and coordinated public attacks designed to inflict personal and professional harm. Individuals who have published, reposted, amplified, encouraged, or otherwise participated in spreading demonstrably false statements should fully expect to receive formal legal notice regarding preservation of evidence and potential liability exposure.”
Saturday’s developments are the latest installment in a more than yearlong saga that began with significant financial trouble in the district.
The district had discussed a possible significant budget deficit last year, and investigations revealed Liggins and his staff failed to properly deal with budgeting issues. Liggins sought an increase to the district’s occupational tax to cover the shortfall, but Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman quickly deemed the effort unlawful.
More recently, FCPS discovered its finances have been misstated since at least 2008, and some revenue has been grossly overstated, leaving the district in worse financial shape than previously thought. FCPS cut 120 jobs as a result, leading to Camuel’s criticism.
School board chair Tyler Murphy said Saturday night the district would not comment on Liggins’ employment status.
“Our priority is stability for our district and keeping the focus on our students,” Murphy said in a statement.
This story was originally published June 13, 2026 at 8:56 PM.