Fayette County school board responds to Open Meetings Act challenge over superintendent removal

The Fayette County Board of Education has sent a letter to attorneys representing Superintendent Dr. Demetrus Liggins, arguing the district followed Kentucky law in connection with the superintendent’s removal, according to a report by LEX18 on June 24, 2026. The board’s response addresses claims that its process may have violated the state’s Open Meetings Act.

In the letter, the school board said it did not breach the Open Meetings Act, LEX18 reported. The dispute centers on the legal requirements for how public school boards conduct meetings and take action. Kentucky’s Open Meetings Act generally requires that public bodies deliberate and take action in meetings open to the public, with appropriate notice and access.

LEX18 said the board’s position was conveyed directly to counsel representing Dr. Liggins. The report framed the letter as a legal response that challenges the idea that the board’s superintendent-removal process included an unlawful closed-door component or improper public notice or access.

The superintendent at the center of the dispute, Dr. Demetrus Liggins, serves as the district’s top administrator, and the board’s decision to remove him has potential effects across the district, including school leadership, staff management, and how district operations are overseen. Because board actions involving leadership changes are typically tied to formal votes, recordkeeping, and meeting procedures, compliance questions can become a central focus of the legal process.

The letter response also underscores that the matter is proceeding along legal lines, with both sides using attorneys to contest whether the board complied with statutory requirements. Under Kentucky law, challenges involving open-meeting procedures can lead to further court proceedings if the parties cannot resolve the dispute.

For the district and the community, the immediate consequence of the board’s response is continued public debate over the process used for the superintendent removal. The board’s stated position is that its actions complied with the Open Meetings Act, while Dr. Liggins’s representatives contend otherwise, according to the LEX18 report.