Fayette County superintendent’s efforts to reclaim job: Catch up here

Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Demetrus Liggins is battling to return to work after the school board placed him on paid administrative leave June 10 amid a dispute over whether he resigned. The fight has escalated to a formal appeal with Kentucky’s attorney general and a whistleblower complaint.

Here’s what to know about Liggins’ efforts to be reinstated

• Liggins demanded reinstatement, with his lawyer arguing the district violated state open meetings law by treating his interest in a separation agreement as a resignation.
• The Fayette County Board of Education rejected Liggins’ reinstatement demand on June 24, saying it will not rescind its actions and will await the results of an outside investigation.
• Liggins filed a whistleblower complaint with the Kentucky Office of Education Accountability, alleging retaliation for raising concerns about Rep. Adrielle Camuel’s legislative duties interfering with her FCPS administrative assistant job.
• His attorney filed an Open Meetings Act appeal with Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman, invoking the Kentucky Supreme Court’s Carter v. Smith decision, which held that discussing a superintendent’s resignation in closed session violates state law.
• A former assistant attorney general said even if Liggins prevails on the open meetings issues, the matter could be tied up in court for months or years, since only circuit courts can void actions from open meetings violations.
• The board hired VanAntwerp Attorneys to review Liggins’ employment and appointed Assistant Superintendent Bill Bradford as acting superintendent, effective immediately pending resolution of the review.
• Liggins’ leave came days after Camuel complained Liggins slipped an apparently falsified email purportedly from a lawyer to Liggins under her office door that implied a threat of legal action. The law firm named in the note said it was falsified, they did not send it and had never worked with him. A video did show Liggins slipping a document under her door. Liggins said he did not write the email or slip it under her door.
• Liggins’ contract runs through 2029, and his attorney contends the board manufactured a vacancy that never legally occurred by treating his occupied office as vacant.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.