FAIRMONT - During his time on the Marion County Board of Education, George Boyles was a longtime supporter of Donna Heston, the district's now embattled superintendent.
He was board president when he stepped down in June after deciding not to seek reelection.
Before he left, though, he gave an endorsement to Heston, voting to extend her contract three years.
Fellow board member Tom Dragich did the same.
They were outvoted, however.
Donna Costello, Kevin Rogers and Pastor James Saunders, now the current president of the board, didn't want to renew at all, even.
And it wasn't about job performance, Heston alleged in a suit filed against the trio earlier this month in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
It was about perceived sexual orientation.
Heston said she was targeted by the trio after repeated allegations of an intimate relationship between her and Kristin DeVaul, the district's administrative assistant for human resources.
Both women denied the allegations and have since brought a lawsuit, saying they were singled out unjustly.
In the Northern District on Saturday, both filed an amended complaint.
The new document now charges Saunders, Costello and Rogers with deliberately trying to terminate Heston's contract - solely based on what the plaintiffs say were false claims to begin with.
And Boyles is providing the backup for the new go-around.
In a sworn affidavit, he said the campaign against Heston and DeVaul goes back to 2024, after Heston...
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