Following criticism over spending $26,500 on a celebrity speaker for an Aug. 6 school district staff convocation, Fayette Superintendent Demetrus Liggins on Saturday evening announced he had canceled the event.
“The FCPS employee back-to-school convocation, originally scheduled for Tuesday, August 6 has been changed to a teacher work day,” Liggins told staff in an email.
The event was scheduled for Rupp Arena.
School board candidate and retired principal, Betsy Rutherford and retired teacher Mark Russell told the Herald-Leader this week they thought the event featuring nationally known educator Ron Clark was ill-advised at a time when courses and staff were being cut.
Rutherford said teachers wanted that time to prepare for the new school year.
Fayette KY120United-AFT, a teacher’s union, in a statement on the social media platform Facebook, praised the cancellation.
“We applaud the district for reaching this decision but regret any taxpayer dollars wasted,” union officials said. “The last convocation was not well received.”
“We have been advocating against using district funds for these convocations ever since. With a collective bargaining agreement such waste would not have been considered since the financial actions of FCPS would be governed by a contract,” the statement said.
“AFT has been committed to financial transparency and feel this is reflected in this decision. We appreciate our partners and allies for speaking up about the costs in light of staffing cuts.”
In a rare Saturday email addressed to Team FCPS, Liggins said “based on valuable feedback and conversations we’ve had with FCPS educators, our FCEA teacher partners, and stakeholders over the past few days, we have decided to rearrange our back-to-school plans for the 2024-25 school year.”
“While we firmly believe that celebrating in the workplace is an essential part of building a cohesive team, energizing staff, and fostering a culture of professionalism and recognition - we hear you, and I want you to know that we are listening,” Liggins told staff.
A speech by nationally known educator Ron Clark was planned for the canceled event.
“We also want to acknowledge that we know this news will be disappointing to many of you,” Liggins said.
“Every year, thousands of educators across the nation attend sessions to learn from Ron Clark and bring innovative and inspiring ideas back to their classrooms. We are grateful that the Fayette Education Foundation, in support of Team FCPS, was willing to sponsor Ron Clark’s visit here in Lexington for all FCPS staff to experience. We will continue to work with them to find ways to support our students and staff,” he said.
Aug. 6 will now be a dedicated teacher workday, the superintendent added.
There will be no meetings or faculty sessions planned for that day , allowing everyone in the district to focus entirely on supporting schools in preparation for students to arrive and start their school year on Aug. 14.
“As you may know, our Board of Education has made a commitment to provide more time in the classrooms, as evidenced by the adopted work calendars in recent years, and this change will enhance that commitment,” he said.
All district staff members will prioritize working on campus that day, whether it’s assisting in setting up classrooms or performing other necessary tasks, Liggins said.
Liggins also said he would establish a group that would create future events that will help the district create a culture of celebration, recognition, and collective learning for the benefit of students and their academic advancement
”Our goal is always to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and those investments made by many generous community partners and sponsors,” Liggins said in the letter to staff.
He said to better understand and meet the needs of educators, he will be sending out a staff survey next week.
“I want to come back to the table after reviewing your feedback to discuss ways we can meaningfully support our educators moving forward,” Liggins said. ”I will also continue to look for ways to bring our district together and breakdown silos and separations, despite the many campuses, departments, and individual roles that comprise our large organization.”
School district officials did not immediately comment to the Herald-Leader about Liggins’ decision as outlined in his letter to staff.
Criticism of convocation
The Herald-Leader previously reported the 2022 convocation cost the district more than $100,000.
Earlier this week, Rutherford told the Herald-Leader that the money used for Clark’s speech and the Rupp Arena convocation could have been used to pay teachers for hours spent preparing their classrooms for opening of schools. which are non-contract hours they spend on their own time; or for music, chorus, art, drama, physical education, and library, Rutherford said.
It also could buy books for kids, pay for additional staff to lower class size or pay for professional development needed for individual schools, she said.
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