List of Publicly Reported Actions Taken By Dr. Demetrus Liggins During His Tenure As FCPS Superintendent (Thus Far)

 

(Edited - correct information regarding Rodney Jackson in #4.)

I was asked how if I thought Dr. Liggins was being scapegoated and how I was sure racism was not involved.

Those are great questions, and believe me, I wanted to believe that myself for a long time. 

I'm not afraid to confront any residual subconscious racial bias that might exist within me as a result of being raised in this this culture - which I have done, in this case.

However, the result of that self-examination was, if anything, I gave him a pass too long because of his race and sexual orientation.

I am also very well-versed in group dysfunction and scapegoating, having been one myself - so I DID consider that as well. 

As for racism, although I do think racists have hopped on board with this -  not knowing or caring about the actual facts or what Dr. Liggins did and didn't do or know - unfortunately, there really are legitimate concerns with actions he has taken and decisions he has made.

As for scapegoating, although there have been some budget problems all along that cannot all be placed on Dr. Liggins shoulders, Dr. Liggins made them worse - and he was warned many times (with published email proof - see below).

In fact, it may be the other way around as far as who is being scapegoated (see #4 below regarding Rodney Jackson, who  btw is also black).

More on that below, but first, I need to say that there are some things I know that I can't share and a few things that have been publicly reported, so I will focus on those - adding the article links for proof of public knowledge. 

 

1. There is a history of proven retaliation against anyone who tried to warn Dr. Liggins of a potential budget collapse within the next year, most famously against Ann Sampson Grimes, Budget Director for FCPS - you can see the warning emails HERE.

Those budget-collapse warning emails in 2025 were addressed to Superintendent Liggins, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Barber, and CFO Rodney Jackson, and she was immediately put on unpaid leave after sending them. 

She then filed a lawsuit against Superintendent Liggins and Assistant Superintendent Barber.

Interestingly, Rodney Jackson - the lowest man on the totem pole of the 3 who received her emails, mentioned previously - is NOT mentioned in her lawsuit (see more on that in #4).

Also, I cannot give you details, but I can tell you from personal experience with 3 Central Office employees of 3 different races - black, white, and Asian - who tried to report bullying by unqualified cronies who'd been put in leadership positions (who were also mostly white). 

Instead of these crony leaders being given any consequences for doing so repeatedly - and not just to those 3 - the complainants were instead put on leave or asked to transfer or step down.

 

2. Extravagant travel expenses for Dr. Liggins himself, including a 3-week trip to Australia, just 3 weeks after he took the position after Manny's death in 2021.

I personally raised an eyebrow at that, at the time, as one of the first things he did after coming in shortly after Manny's death, and told my husband I found that odd, but figured he'd negotiated the trip in as part of his contract and we must have the budget if the board approved it.

I'm not sure what Australia's schools have to do with ours or why this trip was necessary at that cost, but back then, nobody else batted an eye. They are now, believe me!

 

3. The HQE tech company was contracted in August 2021 to update the crisis-management system; however, they were never paid, despite FCPS continuing to use the system still today. 

 

4. In an effort to blame prior leadership for the budget woes, Dr. Liggins publicly blamed long-term CFO, Rodney Jackson (who is also black) - putting him on leave in April - AFTER Sampson-Grimes' emails were published. 

Now - according to the LHL paper, they noticed Rodney being curiously absent for the last 2 months from board meetings, they filed an open records request to find out his work status, but were denied, only being told that he was on "medical leave." 

 

(Edited: Oh, he's on leave all right - and although he does have a medical issue and is officially listed that way, what is also true is that Rodney and 2 others from his office were escorted out of the building on the same day in April - and it was NOT voluntary.) 

 

The acting CFO is Kyna Koch joined in blaming Rodney, although she has been a financial consultant with the schools for many years, including investigating 2008 the year in question - so many asked "Why didn't she catch it then?"

 The answer to that is, she and the former budget director did - in fact, it was already addressed at the time and Kyna knows that - they're just hoping the public doesn't remember that and that can be used as effective distraction and the public will by this as blame.

 

5. In response to this attempt to blame former leadership, a member of the community uncovered that Liggins authorized $225,000 to be given to Consolidated Baptist Church to use for rent, furniture,  and technology for tutoring and ESL classes - and questioned the school board about it publicly.

Although I am all for those services, we do need to keep separation of church and state and that should go for us as liberal Democrats and Republicans alike, and above all, should be  openly debated and and approved and for more than just one church. 

Unfortunately, the transaction was coded such that it fell under COVID-19 reparations, and was either not detected or turned a blind eye to, by the school board. 

 

6. In his mass email to all FCPS staff addressing the mass-firing that about to ensure, Dr. Liggins claimed those "in administration" would be fired, implying leadership would go - but instead, he fired lower-paid administrative staff, maintenance roles, etc.

 

(I no longer have a copy of this email, but I have seen it - everyone at FCPS and their families did and there was brief mention of it in the paper.)

 

Other than his "I'm resigning/I'm not resigning" double-speak everyone saw yesterday, there is there is another example of his typical deceptive double-speak.

 

6. If nothing else, asking for a full year's $300K for a year after he's gone - when our budget is so bankrupt we had to take out a $90 million-dollar loan just to make payroll AFTER almost 200 people were fired - is a clue as to his actual motives (see yesterday's posts with links and a copy of his actual letter).

 

There are many, many other things I wish I could tell you that are worse, but I can't.

Perhaps they will come out publicly someday - some are saying that's why he's resigning now.

Others say it's because his tenure reached 5 years in June, but actually at FCPS, it's 4 years and 1 day. 

This is why I call him the black Lib/Dem Trump.

Get it now?