FCPS leaders holding public meeting to discuss school safety

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Fayette County Public School leaders will meet Thursday to discuss school safety.

They’ll be focusing on the 10-point plan they instituted five years ago to make campuses safer and more secure.

The meeting is the first formal step in a months-long process for school leaders to assess school safety, their policies and how they can be better.

“We know that we’re in a completely different place now than we were five years ago when this plan was completed,” said Superintendent Dr. Demetrus Liggins. “We’ve gone through a pandemic, we’ve gone through a racial uprising in our nation, we’ve come through a lot in the last five years.”

That’s why Dr. Liggins says now is the time to sit down and reassess.

In the wake of the Marshall County school shooting, officials in Fayette County devised a 10-point safety investment plan for the district. Dr. Liggins says officials have been able to implement a number of the recommendations from that plan which has made Fayette County a national model when it comes to school safety.

“Since five years ago, we’ve hired 74 district mental health specialists to work with our children, and we have one of the lowest if not the lowest ratios if not in the nation of mental health [workers] to students,” Dr. Liggins said.

Dr. Liggins says a plan like that is only worthwhile in the long run if you’re constantly looking to improve on it.

He says the way that happens is by holding meetings over the next couple months and being transparent in those discussions. Hearing from the families, students and teachers about what they think needs to improve.

“We are again committed to listening, and we’re taking the feedback from those who are involved and those who are in our schools,” Dr. Liggins said. “Definitely do not want to create this plan, implement what was there, and put it on the shelf. That is something where we’re continuously trying to make sure that we’re providing the absolute best environment for our students.”

The meeting will start Thursday evening at the John D. Price administration building at 6 p.m. The meeting will also be livestreamed on the district’s YouTube page.

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