Board to meet in W.Va. transgender student harassment case

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. – A county school board in West Virginia is considering whether to suspend an assistant principal for a bathroom incident involving a transgender male student.

Fifteen-year-old Michael Critchfield says Liberty High School Assistant Principal Lee Livengood harassed him for using a boys’ bathroom on Nov. 27, and told him, “you freak me out.”

The Exponent Telegram reports that Livengood was suspended with pay last month, a move that was effective for four days until the holiday break.

Harrison County Board of Education President Frank Devono says the board will meet Tuesday night to consider Superintendent Mark Manchin’s recommendation that Livengood be suspended indefinitely without pay.

Devono says countywide sensitivity training also is being implemented.