Currituck County School’s former chief financial officer has filed a sexual harassment and retailiation complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Superintendent Matt Lutz.
In a statement, the school division said Lutz “strongly denies” the allegations.
Attorney Tom York filed the federal charge on behalf of Larissa York, who signed the complaint on Oct. 12. In it, she alleges Lutz scheduled a meeting with her and directed her to an unoccupied office next to his.
“I walked into the room first and he walked in behind me and I heard the door lock,” York wrote in the complaint. York alleges Lutz touched her inappropriately and she jumped away and sat down.
She claims that from then on she was “subjected to unwelcome comments and other acts of intimidation.”
Lutz fired York in July, citing “‘lost confidence’ in my ability to lead the finance department because of a surplus of funding and a loss of funding caused by him,” she wrote.
York said she was sexually harassed and believes she was also intimidated and retaliated against by her supervisor.
Lutz was appointed Currituck County Schools superintendent in September after serving as interim superintendent since June. York was hired as the division’s chief financial officer in 2019.
“Following the termination of her employment with the school system, Ms. York made certain allegations against the Superintendent,” the school division said in an email to OBXToday.com. “The Superintendent adamantly denies these charges. Ms. York has been afforded an opportunity for a fair and impartial hearing before the Board of Education to review her concerns but has declined to participate.
“Ms. York has also filed a charge with the EEOC. The Superintendent strongly denies the EEOC charges as well. The school system will cooperate with the EEOC to provide all requested information and looks forward to a full and final resolution of this matter,” the statement said.