High School Officials Cleared of “Wrongdoing” in Trans Athlete Probe
School district had reassigned five employees as part of an investigation into how a transgender athlete was allowed on a girls' volleyball team.
A Florida high school principal and two of his staff members have been cleared of wrongdoing as part of an investigation looking into how a transgender female student was permitted to become a member of the school’s girls’ volleyball team.
As reported by Fort Lauderdale-based ABC affiliate WPLG, a spokesperson for Broward County Public Schools confirmed that Monarch High School Principal James Cecil, Assistant Principal Kenneth May, and Athletic Director Dione Hester have been “cleared of any wrongdoing following an investigation.”
All three school officials — along with temporary athletic coach Alex Burgess and school IT technician Jessica Norton, the mother of the transgender athlete in question — were reassigned to off-campus jobs after they were accused of deliberately flouting Florida’s “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” which was signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in June 2021. The law prohibits transgender females from competing on female-designated sports teams.
The student’s participation on the girls’ volleyball team was flagged by the Florida High School Athletic Association, which oversees high school sports in the state. FHSAA officials sent a letter to Monarch High administrators accusing them of having violated association bylaws that comply with the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.”
The FHSAA ordered Monarch High School, located in Coconut Creek, to pay a $16,500 fine, accept a letter of reprimand that will remain “a permanent part of its membership record in the athletic organization, accept various probationary punishments that will remain in effect through November 2024, and require its staff to attend seminars and workshops on how to comply with Florida’s transgender athlete ban.
The athlete in question — who was a plaintiff in a since-dismissed lawsuit challenging the state’s transgender sports ban — is also barred from sports participation until November 2024, and must only compete on male-designated teams in the future.
Shortly afterward, Broward County Public Schools launched a probe into how the transgender student’s participation had been green-lighted by administrators. It was then that the five school employees were reassigned, prompting hundreds of students at the school to organize a walkout in protest of the district’s actions.
The district has since concluded the investigation, allowing Cecil, May, and Hester to return to campus. Burgess, the volleyball coach — who is not a district employee — was also cleared, and allowed to return to coaching, reports the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Burgess previously told the Miami Herald in December that he was unaware the transgender athlete, a sophomore had been assigned male at birth. The athlete has identified as a girl since age three and has been on puberty blockers since age 11. As a result, Burgess didn’t realize there was an issue with her eligibility, and the student was allowed to compete on the volleyball team for the past two years.
The district has since confirmed that Monarch High has “complied with the sanctions imposed by the FHSAA, including paying the assessed fine and attending the organization’s compliance seminar in early May.”
However, the fate of the athlete’s mother, Jessica Norton, remains uncertain. The investigation into her role in concealing her daughter’s assigned sex at birth remains ongoing.
According to the Sun-Sentinel, Norton’s fate is scheduled to be decided at a school board meeting on June 18. The board could choose to fire her, met out a less severe form of discipline, or choose not to discipline her at all. If fired, she would be able to appeal through a grievance process with the district, and then an arbitrator if she’s still unsatisfied with the outcome of that process, a district spokesperson said.
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