Welcome, Superintendent Liggins. It’s time to restore confidence in Fayette schools.
Dear Superintendent Demetrus Liggins,
Congratulations on being named chief of the second largest school district in the state, and welcome to Lexington. We, as a community and public school parents, are glad that someone is permanently named to this job. It’s been a tough year — all the trauma of COVID combined with the tragic death of Manny Caulk.
You sound like a terrific candidate (being called “indispensable” by your local Greenville, Texas, paper as they begged you not to take this job is a high bar indeed). But I’m sure as many have told you, there’s a big difference between school districts of 6,000 students and 40,000, and you have an enormous job ahead.
You’re also following a tough act. As superintendent, Caulk did some brave things: He made Lexington face some unhappy truths about its schools that we’ve swept under the rug. He called out racism and achievement gaps and segregation that Black parents have protested for years and white parents have been happy to ignore. We hope that you will continue his work in getting every child in every school a top-notch education, one that’s not solely determined by which zip code they happen to live in. How will you make sure that students of color are offered the same advantages — advanced and AP classes — as their white counterparts? How will you make sure students of color aren’t disproportionately disciplined?
It’s clear that in many sectors of Lexington, people have lost confidence in their public schools. We see that not just in those who fled during the district’s first fumbling attempts at pandemic teaching, but in the growth of private schools around us. In retrospect, we kept schools closed too long, but teachers and administrators worked hard to salvage the academic year. You will hear criticisms from numerous parent groups on every part of the political spectrum, and from this newspaper. Please don’t be thin-skinned, but listen, hear, and tell the public of your prognosis and plans.
Listen to the incredible teachers and students in your schools. Teachers are often scared to speak out for fear of retribution, but they know best what our schools need. Listen to students like the Kentucky Student Voice Team members or the Counselors Over Cops group instead of just shutting them down. They are right that our schools should have more counselors to talk to our ever-more troubled youth than we have police officers ready to lock them up. Our students paid attention to the tumult in our nation.
Take advantage of the vast educational resources at the nearby University of Kentucky. These efforts seem to wax and wane over the years, but it’s time to cement a mutually beneficial alliance. Julian Vasquez Heilig, the dean of the UK College of Education said that while UK and Fayette County has always worked together, they are ready for more.
“We’re always trying to find ways to make our relationship stronger and bigger,” he said. “I think the prospect is exciting that we can do more.”
Be aware that the GOP majority in Frankfort is more interested in using tax dollars to pay for private schools than funding public ones. They’ve tried to punish the political might of teachers, and Fayette often gets caught in the crosshairs.
It’s been a long and traumatic year for the Fayette County schools, but we know they have enormous potential. Lexington is a prosperous and dynamic place. Its schools should be too. We look forward to seeing how you will make this happen, and it can’t happen a moment too soon.
