Transgender Student In Armstrong County Left Concussed After Attack At High School, Mother Says
ARMSTRONG COUNTY (KDKA) -- A transgender student at Armstrong High School says she was attacked at school.
The attack on the 14-year-old student was caught on video by another student.
Shocking and scary is how Willow Andring describes what happened on Oct. 27 at the high school. That's the day a male student attacked her. She suffered a concussion.
"He pulled me from behind and started beating me up," Andring said. "Before this, he had been calling me names saying, 'It's not a she, it's not a he, it's an it.'"
She told her mother the student that attacked her began verbally assaulting her at lunch earlier.
"What Willow told me that day was that they were used to the name-calling and that they could bear it, but they never thought that this would happen," Heather Andring said.
Watch as KDKA's Briana Smith reports:
Heather Andring told KDKA this absolutely cannot be tolerated. On Monday night, she and others in the district asked the school board for tougher consequences for the student and widespread change.
"We would really like to see a change in the culture at the school," the student's mother said.
"Appreciate all of your comments on behalf of the board. We are listening and we are certainly willing to work with the community and the administration to do whatever it takes to be proactive and not reactive to this problem and promote change," the board said during Monday's meeting.
KDKA reached out to the Armstrong School District and is waiting to hear back. The Manor Township Police Department was called to investigate, and KDKA is waiting to hear if any charges will be filed.
