The Fayette County Board of Education on Wednesday placed Superintendent Demetrus Liggins on paid leave and appointed an acting superintendent after a back and forth between Liggins and the school board over whether he was leaving his job.

After meeting for more than 2 1/2 hours behind closed doors, the school board voted unanimously to place Liggins on paid administrative leave. It also voted to hire the law firm of VanAntwerp Attorneys to review the superintendent’s employment and appointed Bill Bradford, assistant superintendent of school leadership, as acting superintendent.

Liggins did not immediately respond Thursday morning to an email message asking for comment.

Bradford will assume the role immediately.

“We definitely want to focus on our students first. We’re also gonna continue to support our schools and then leverage everything that’s great about Fayette County and really improve upon our current systems,” Bradford said after Wednesday’s board meeting.

Fayette County school board Chair Tyler Murphy said the board is united in supporting Bradford to ensure stability.

After a lengthy discussion, board member Amanda Ferguson said, “we are ready to move forward and take some action in the district.”

Fayette County school board ‘not entertaining’ a separation package for Liggins

Murphy said the district was not interested in a separation agreement with Liggins. Liggins, who was first hired in 2021, emailed Murphy Tuesday saying he wanted to leave the job but asked for a year of compensation and benefits to do so.

“I’ll say for the record that the board is not entertaining any motions for a separation package. And the board is united in our support of Dr. Bill Bradford,” Murphy said. “We are focused on ensuring stability for our students, staff, and families, and ensuring that Fayette County Public Schools remains focused on its core mission of supporting student success.”

The meeting and the decision to place Liggins on administrative leave came after a confusing two days. The board announced it had received a notice of resignation from Liggins on Tuesday. But Liggins later said he had not sent an official resignation notice and that he wanted to discuss a separation agreement with the board.

Murphy answered Liggins’ Tuesday email, telling Liggins the board of education would meet Wednesday evening to address Liggins’ “resignation notice.” More than 12 hours later, after the school board notified the public and media that it was holding a meeting to address Liggins’ resignation, Liggins replied to Murphy to say he was not resigning, and he wanted to withdraw his request for a separation agreement. He also wanted the school board to cancel its special meeting, which the board declined to do.

The emails were released by the district Wednesday.

Liggins was not present at the Wednesday special-called school board meeting, which spokesperson Miranda Scully said would not be considered unusual given the reason for the meeting, which was addressing a resignation notice.

How long will law firm’s review of Liggins take?

Murphy said he did not have a timeframe for how long the investigation into Liggins could take.

“We hope it’s something that could be resolved quickly, because we know that our community needs certainty,” Murphy said. “We want to ensure that it’s done thoroughly and correctly and accurately.” Murphy addressed the conflicting messages the district sent out Tuesday from the board and from Liggins. He said the board acted on the information it received.

“We will ensure everyone is treated fairly, and our number one priority is to our students, to our staff, and to our families,” Murphy said of the review into Liggins. “And so we will communicate to the extent that we can. When it comes to personnel matters, we’re very limited in what we can share in real time. But when we can share information, we will share that information.”

Murphy said he was not in a position to discuss whether new information had led to Liggins being placed on administrative leave.

“All I can say is that superintendent Liggins was placed on administrative leave pending an employment review,” he said.

Teachers’ groups urged the board not to give Liggins a payout

A couple dozen people were at Wednesday’s special-called school board meeting, including several members of KY United 120 AFT, a teachers’ union whose members have sometimes been critical of Liggins.

“As stakeholders of our public school district, we care about decisions made that impact our students, teachers, staff, and community,” said co-founder of the group Laura Hartke. “We will continue to show up because we care.”

After the board announcement that Liggins had been placed on paid administrative leave, KY 120 issued a statement calling for Liggins and Murphy’s resignations.

“KY 120 United AFT-Fayette has cast a vote of no confidence in the current leadership of Fayette County Public School,” the statement said.. “Regardless of who is the superintendent of FCPS, it is evident that the school district is in need of systemic change, beyond one individual. However, accountability begins at the top. Our superintendent has mismanaged our district and the school board chair has failed to oversee this administration. Both must resign now, with zero further resources depleted from our students and staff.”

“ For trust to be restored in any leadership of our public schools, the mistakes of this and previous administrations must not be repeated. Our students, teachers, staff, and families must be protected and collectively included in decision making going forward. The only way we get through this is together,” the statement said.

As the school board members left the meeting room to go into closed session, an audience member called out, “Do the Right Thing.” Retired FCPS teacher Mark Russell carried a sign that said, ”No Pay Out for Dr. Liggins.”

Erika Pennington, president of the Fayette County Education Association, another teacher’s group, issued a statement while the school board was in closed session indicating the group was not in favor of Liggins getting a separation agreement.

“In light of recent developments regarding the possible resignation of Superintendent Liggins, the Fayette County Education Association finds it imperative to remember that over 100 Fayette County Public Schools employees recently lost their jobs and did not have the luxury of negotiating a separation agreement,” said Pennington. “We urge the school board to ensure that our students and staff are at the forefront of any discussions regarding the exit of the superintendent. FCEA is committed to a continued collaborative relationship with the FCPS school board and district leadership.”

State Rep. George Brown, D-Lexington, also attended Wednesday’s board meeting.

While the school board was in closed session, Brown told the Herald-Leader, “I’m supportive of public education and Dr. Liggins stands for public education.”

“I think that the question remains that if this superintendent’s not good enough, we (have to) find another one. And which superintendent will be good enough?” Brown said.

Brown said he thought Liggins had done what the school board and citizens had asked him to do. He said that the source of the district’s financial problems had not as yet been pinned down.

Budget woes, investigations dog Liggins’ tenure

Liggins’ tenure at the state’s second-largest public school district has been marred by controversy due to the district’s budget woes. The most recent dust up began in May 2025 when the district proposed but eventually aborted a plan to increase an occupational tax, or a tax on wages.

Liggins and the board initiated audits and investigations into the district’s bookkeeping after receiving repeated questions about the district’s finances. Earlier this year, the district announced its books had been misstated for nearly two decades.

State Auditor Allison Ball is conducting a special examination of the district’s finances. A spokeswoman for Ball said no information from that examination has been referred to law enforcement. That’s typically done when the examination is complete, but there hasn’t been any indication that criminal activity is part of the issues.

Olivia McKown, a spokeswoman for Ball, also said Wednesday she does not know if any of the audit findings contributed to Liggins’ decision to pursue a separation agreement. A release date for that special examination has not been set.

“We’re in consistent communication with FCPS about the status of our work, but they have not confirmed if anything identified has contributed to the recent resignation discussions,” McKown said in a statement.

To correct financial missteps, the district cut 120 positions, slashed work days for other staff and is seeking a short-term loan to help it cover its payroll this summer.

Meanwhile, tensions between Liggins, teachers’ unions and the public have continued to escalate, with some people calling for Liggins’ resignation at a board meeting in May.

The district’s financial turbulence also grabbed leaders’ attention in Frankfort, with some Republicans calling for Liggins and Murphy to step down in 2025.

Still, district officials have previously said they’ve seen improvements under Liggins’ leadership. In the 2024-2025 state accountability ratings, district officials said last fall, two-thirds of district campuses posted overall score increases. The district saw a second year of strong results for historically disadvantaged students. Graduation rates steadily climbed from 89.4% in 2020-2021 to 92.4% in 2024-2025.

The district was also able to raise starting salaries for teachers and improved its retention efforts since 2021, according to a statement from Murphy after Liggins was given a second four-year contract in 2025.

Liggins has also won awards for his work.

Liggins was selected as Superintendent of the Year in July 2025 by the Kentucky Association of School Administrators.

A native of Texas, Liggins was previously superintendent of Greenville Independent School District, a Dallas suburb, before he joined FCPS in 2021.

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