LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX News) — Fayette County Public Schools held its monthly media briefing Tuesday in a push to provide more transparency, with district officials addressing public scrutiny over a multi-million dollar budget shortfall.
Acting Superintendent Bill Bradford said the district is focused on what it is accomplishing.
"There's a lot of distraction about what we're not doing or perhaps what we're doing that is not correct," Bradford said.
One thing Fayette County Board of Education leadership will not do at these briefings for now, in part, is address questions related to Superintendent Demetrus Liggins.
The Fayette County School Board met Monday for the first time since placing Liggins on paid administrative leave. Liggins filed a formal complaint Friday against FCPS stemming from the board calling a special meeting to discuss his resignation.
Liggins said a late-night email to board chair Tyler Murphy was not a resignation, but a request to discuss a potential separation package.
Covering Kentucky
FCPS's Demetrus Liggins says he has not resigned, remains as superintendent
Bradford reiterated the board's stance on legal or personnel matters.
"They are not prepared to make any statements regarding pending litigation or anything that is currently being challenged to their degree of familiarity," he said.
Major budget challenges for the district continue to be at the forefront. Weaver and Tidwell, the accounting firm hired in December to conduct an external audit of the district's finances, is asking for upwards of $35,000 in additional fees for their services.
Interim Chief Financial Officer Kyna Koch addressed the district's contingency fund to cover the rest of this year's budget obligations.
"27 million was the budgeted contingency for the current year and we will be using all of that, we will be expending all of that in contingency," Koch said.
Bradford said a big initiative is year five of the district's long-term plan, and FCPS still has 18% of its activities left to accomplish.
He said the district's actions speak for themselves.
"There is a lot that we are doing that is absolutely outstanding and there is a lot of what we are doing that is absolutely extraordinary," Bradford said.
