A Florida high school principal and three other officials have been reassigned after letting a trans girl play on a girls’ volleyball team – despite it being against state law.
Principal James Cecil, assistant principal Kenneth May, athletic director Dione Hester and volleyball coach Jessica Norton were all shuffled away from teaching roles. Bosses at Monarch High School in Pompano Beach had raised ‘allegations of improper student participation in sports.’
It comes after Ron DeSantis signed a bill barring transgender females from playing on public school teams intended for student athletes born as girls in 2021.
“Although we cannot comment further, we will continue to follow state law and will take appropriate action based on the outcome of the investigation,’ Broward County School District spokesman John Sullivan said.
‘We are committed to providing all our students with a safe and inclusive learning environment.’
A family friend of the trans athlete told CBS Miami the student hadn’t yet ‘come out’ as transgender yet, with officials saying they’ve mishandled the student’s privacy.
‘It’s horrendous first on just a human level that the school would out somebody on an issue like this that’s obviously incredibly sensitive.
‘It’s just dumbfounding, and the Broward County Schools should be ashamed of themselves,’ said Scott Galvin, Executive Director of Safe Schools South Florida.
The student, according to sources, transitioned several years ago. The school district superintendent and the regional superintendent of schools chose to reassign the Monarch High officials.
As of 2023, 20 states have passed legislation protecting the rights of female athletes from facing what supporters say is an unfair competitive advantage from biologically male athletes.
But the Biden administration is attempting to amend Title IX, the law that protects women’s sports, to allow athletes to compete on either men’s or women’s teams consistent with their gender identity.
Supporters of the sports bills say they are needed to preserve fairness, asserting that biologically born women and girls would be at a disadvantage against transgender athletes who were born as male but have since transitioned to female.
DeSantis signed the bill flanked by several teenage women athletes. He said the law was needed to ensure fairness for women participating in sports across the state.
‘We are going to go based off biology, not based off ideology when we are doing sports,’ he said.
The Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group, said it would challenge the Florida law in court as having been based on a ‘false, discriminatory premise’ that threatened the wellbeing of transgender children.
‘Transgender kids are kids; transgender girls are girls. Like all children, they deserve the opportunity to play sports with their friends and be a part of a team,’ Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said in a statement.
