Fayette schools lost an application for a vacant school board seat. What happens next?

Fayette County Public Schools lost an application for the vacant District 1 school board seat, and although far along in the process of filling the seat, the school board is now considering the additional applicant.

Following the resignation of former District 1 Board Member Christy Morris in November, the remaining four school board members are responsible for filling the vacant seat. District 1 is in west Fayette County and pulls from areas between Leestown and Harrodsburg roads.

The previously unknown applicant for the vacancy is Jerome Higginbotham, a carpenter for Phase IV Contractors, district officials said in a Friday night announcement.

It will be up to the board to decide Tuesday whether to include Higginbotham in the interviews scheduled for that day. At least part of the meeting will be in closed session, according to an agenda.

There are currently three other applicants: Marilyn Clark, Edward Dixon and William Swope Jr.

Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Demetrus Liggins said in a news release that a paper submission from the additional applicant now being considered was lost.

“An application was dropped off at the front desk of the district administration building on the last day of school before winter break,” Liggins said. “Unfortunately, we have been unable to locate their paperwork anywhere in the building.” Dec. 23, was the deadline for submissions.

The applicant sent followup emails to confirm receipt of his materials but incorrectly used “.edu” at the end of the district email address instead of “.us”, so no one received the email.

“We discovered the mistake because of an email phishing filter in our software that searches incoming emails for variations of my name and email address to intercept spam,” Liggins said. “As soon as this matter was brought to my attention, we made contact with the applicant by phone, apologized for the loss of his original submission, and gave him an opportunity to provide a duplicate set of his application materials.”

“He would have been eligible if not for the error by our administrative team,” Liggins said. “Appropriate action will be taken to correct the deficiencies that led to this mistake.”

On Jan. 17, members of the Fayette County Board of Education will interview candidates interested in representing District 1 on the school board. “But before that can happen, they need to decide which applicants to consider,” a district news release said.

Initially, district officials said Friday, board members were aware of nine people who submitted online applications:

▪ Four submitted complete applications before the deadline and met statutory eligibility requirements for the board seat.

▪ Two submitted complete applications after the deadline and met statutory eligibility requirements for the seat.

▪ Three did not meet eligibility requirements.

Applications were accepted through 5 p.m. Dec. 23, “Community input” about the key characteristics and priorities for the new board member was collected through Dec. 31., the news release said.

The board voted not to accept late applications, and Jamie Jackson, one of the four remaining candidates withdrew his application when he discovered he had a conflict.

Since then, Liggins discovered that Higginbotham was the tenth individual who had also filed an application, but the paper submission was lost.

Jerome Higginbotham

Higginbotham could not immediately be reached Friday. District officials provided his application.

It said that he had previously worked at Bluegrass Community and Technical College as a carpentry instructor and at James Lane Allen Elementary as a computer lab paraeducator. He has a masters degree from the University of Kentucky, the application said.

Higginbotham’s application said he would like to see a reduction in the ratio of students to teachers by hiring more teachers and having more classrooms. That would require a “deep dive” into the budget, he said.

He said he had tried his best to serve his community through charitable endeavors and volunteerism. His application said he was associated with a small nonprofit focused on improving the lives of children and families in the Cardinal Valley neighborhood. He said on the school board, he could broaden his efforts to improve the lives of children and families in Fayette County.