Demetrus Liggins
In the summer of 2021, the Fayette County Board of Education unanimously hired Demetrus Liggins as superintendent. The previous year, Liggins was recognized as a “Superintendent to Watch” by the National School Public Relations Association in recognition of his leadership and communication capabilities. He also received statewide awards and recognitions for his work as superintendent for the Greenville Independent School District in his home state of Texas.
“I always knew that I wanted to do something to help people, something that would make a difference in the world,” Liggins said. Outside of his family, he credits educators as the biggest influence in escaping the “extreme poverty” of his childhood. Inspired by those teachers, he determined that he could best contribute to society through a career in education. He earned a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in English from California State University in Fresno, a master’s degree in education from Stephen F. Austin State University, and a doctorate in K-16 educational leadership and policy from the University of Texas-Arlington.
In the Texas public school system, he gathered experience through a succession of positions, including teacher, principal, and later as superintendent. “I always consider myself a teacher first,” Liggins said. Business Lexington spoke with Liggins about challenges, accomplishments, and new projects within the Fayette County Public School system.
What do you see as being the most pressing needs for Lexington’s public school system?
As a school district, our mission is to ensure that our students achieve at high levels and graduate prepared to excel in a global society. My primary concern is always learning. When I talk about student outcomes, I’m not talking about scores and report cards. We provide a rigorous, world-class education intended to address the needs of the whole child from preschool through high school.
It truly is in partnership with our families and community that we create achievement opportunities for our students. A few years ago, our families came together to create what we call Fayette County Public Schools’ Portrait of a Graduate. It goes beyond just their academic preparedness for post-secondary education. It also looks at things like civic engagement, cultural competence and being equipped for the future. Upon my arrival here, we created a new strategic plan that identified certain experiences and instruction for students to develop those soft skills throughout their time at FCPS.
We must ensure that students have help — such as warm, healthy meals — to learn. Many students need counseling, and we can provide those services. Many students experience homelessness, and we provide services for them. The ills of society don’t stop when a child walks through our doors. We’re responsible for trying to assist in addressing those issues so that we can get to our core mission, which is educating our students.
How is population growth in Lexington impacting FCPS?
We continue to be a destination school district where families want to send their students. Between about 2005 and 2015, the number of students attending Fayette County Public Schools increased by about 650 students per year — that’s one elementary school per year. That was considered extremely fast growth. Starting in 2016, the numbers plateaued, and then they dipped somewhat during the pandemic. We have about 42,000 students enrolled this year.
We realized that with additional students comes the need for additional space, which, unfortunately, prompted us to place portable classrooms on several of our campuses. However, since the number of students on campus drives staffing, we still have excellent teacher-to-student ratios, ensuring our students receive support and instruction from our highly qualified educators.
What areas of Lexington are showing the most need for new facilities?
Student enrollment follows housing patterns. Anywhere in our community where new homes or apartments are under construction, we’re welcoming new students. We’re seeing tremendous housing and student growth in the Hamburg area, east of I-75, and in Masterson Station.
Our community has made tremendous investments in the school district, enabling us to address the facility needs we’ve had for the past couple of decades. In 2007, a group of leaders representing Commerce Lexington partnered with the Fayette County Board of Education and launched a campaign that led to a property tax dedicated to facility improvements. Between 2007 and 2022, that allowed the district to build new schools and invest in the modernization or replacement of some of our existing schools.
Recently, we invested nearly $600 million in new bonding capacity to help build schools, modernize schools and upgrade them. With the number of schools and facilities we have, something must always be done. We still have well over a billion dollars worth of need, but honestly, we don’t have that much building and funding capacity.
Our facility plan currently includes a new Henry Clay high school — that’s about $146 million. There’s a new STEM Academy for Girls — that’s about $57 million. A new elementary school in Masterson Station — about $41 million. We’re also currently building a brand new middle school in the Hamburg area, as well as our new CTE [career and technological education] building, which is currently under construction and should open up in 2025.
Can you tell us about the new CTE center inhabiting the old Herald-Leader building on Midland Avenue?
Absolutely. We call it the HILL, an acronym for Hub for Innovative Learning and Leadership. It’s a $65 million project for career and technical education. It will open doors of opportunity for both students and adults. It will provide state-of-the-art facilities with equipment that meets the current workforce needs and demands. It also will have the flexibility to change and meet whatever future needs for careers in high-growth industry sectors. We want this to be a place for anyone looking to advance their education or career.
It will serve middle and high school students from Fayette County public schools and some surrounding school districts [estimated student body of 3,000]. Classes will be hands-on experiences for career pathways — things like automotive technology, aviation, digital game design and development, fire emergency, pre-nursing, and all sorts of programs. The vision is to have training available for adults in the evenings.
As we envision it, it will also be a center of sorts for community groups, offering counseling or workshops designed to help strengthen households — whatever the needs may be.
Please talk about the Toyota Kentucky Driving Possibilities program.
Toyota has been a wonderful partner and supporter of Fayette County public schools for years. This new program focuses on six schools in north Lexington, including Arlington, Mary Todd, Northern, and Russell Cave elementary schools, Winburn Middle School, and Bryan Station High School.
This first year of the program has been about gathering community input, identifying the community’s needs, and piloting programs to determine the next steps. It will expand literacy and language resources for students and create a STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] education pathway.
What is the importance of partnerships and community engagement for FCPS?
We have thousands of partnerships across our district that help meet students’ basic needs, including on-the-job experience and summer employment. One I would like to highlight is our REAL [Read Excel Achieve Lead] Read Program that launched in 2017. Volunteers come into the classroom on a regular basis to read to the students, and all students receive a copy of the book.
There’s so much research about the importance of reading and having print material at home for our families. It’s helping with our students’ writing performance, language development, and overall academic achievement. It’s good for students to see different people in the community reading to them and taking an interest in their learning. Beginning this year, the REAL Read program expands into every preschool through fifth grade.