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By Tim Fitzsimons and the Associated Press
The Harrison County School Board in West Virginia decided on Tuesday not to renew the contract of a school official who was temporarily suspended at the end of last year for allegedly harassing a transgender student.
Lee Livengood, deputy director of Liberty High School, reportedly followed 15-year-old Michael Critchfield into the boys' bathroom last November and said, "You scare me.
Livengood was suspended without pay for four days in December before returning to Liberty High. The West Virginia Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has called the suspension "not enough".
The ACLU said 1,100 people signed a petition asking council to act. The petition was delivered Tuesday.
Critchfield, who is said to be traumatized by this incident, has repeatedly reminded Livengood: "Why are you here? You should not be here.
Critchfield responded that it was his legal right to use this bathroom. He added that Livengood had used incorrect pronouns when he was referring to Critchfield and had challenged him to use a urinal to prove that he was a boy.
"I felt really degraded and discriminated against," said Critchfield, adding that the school "should feel like a safe place."
"Children like me should never have to live in such a situation," he added. "At the end of the day, all I wanted was to feel welcome."
Harrison County Superintendent Mark Manchin is the cousin of Senator Joe Manchin, D -W.Va., according to The Charleston Gazette-Mail.
Senator Manchin this week became the only Democratic senator to express his concerns about the Equality Act, a federal bill that would add "sexual orientation" and "identity of "to the list of protected classes in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The senator expressed concerns as to what the Equality Act would mean for school policies regarding transgender students.
"I am not convinced that the Equality Act, as drafted, provides sufficient guidance to local officials responsible for its implementation, particularly with regard to students in transition in public schools," wrote Manchin in a statement posted on his website.
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