A public school employee in Florida is facing firing because she allowed her “transgender daughter” to play on the girls’ volleyball team at their high school. This week, she issued remarks where she doubled down on her decision.
The mother, Jessica Norton, reportedly gave the remarks to the Broward School Board on Tuesday. Norton worked at Monarch High School in Fort Lauderdale, where her son who thinks he’s a girl attends school.
According to several reports, an anonymous tipster notified a school board member last year that the 16-year-old was playing on the girls’ varsity volleyball team, a violation of state law. The tip led to an investigation that led to Norton being suspended from her position as an information management specialist at the high school. In addition, she was a volunteer coach. She is now facing possible termination.
"District leadership tried to ruin my life, but instead you destroyed a 16-year-old's life,” Norton reportedly said on Tuesday. “They destroyed her high school career and her lifelong memories.”
Norton’s son was elected to leadership positions at school, several outlets noted.
“I saw the light in my daughter's eyes gleam with future plans of organizing and attending prom, participating in and leading senior class traditions, speaking at graduation and going off to college with the confidence and joy that any student like her would after a successful and encouraging high school experience. And 203 days ago, I watched as that life was extinguished,” she said.
NBC Miami claimed that Norton’s “daughter” legally changed “her” name and gender. In addition, Norton claimed that no one on the volleyball team cared that he was transgender.
Now, the family is challenging the state law that created the investigation.
“This is not an issue that sprang forth from actual community concern,” Jason Starr, the family’s attorney, told NBC Miami. “This is a minority of loud individuals who are creating a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist that creates more problems.”
Last year, Townhall reported how Monarch High School was fined over $10,000 for allowing the biological male to play on the girls’ volleyball team. The fine was carried out by the Florida High School Athletic Association over the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” which requires athletes to play sports on teams that correspond to their biological sex rather than their “gender identity.”
“Thanks to [Gov. Ron DeSantis], Florida passed legislation to protect girls’ sports and we will not tolerate any school that violates this law,” Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. wrote in a statement posted to X. “We applaud the swift action taken by the FHSAA to ensure there are serious consequences for this illegal behavior.”
Thanks to @GovRonDeSantis, Florida passed legislation to protect girls’ sports and we will not tolerate any school that violates this law.
— Manny Diaz Jr. (@CommMannyDiazJr) December 12, 2023
We applaud the swift action taken by the @FHSAA to ensure there are serious consequences for this illegal behavior.…
Before this, the principal and two other staff members at the Florida school were reassigned to “non-school sites” amid the investigation into the “trans” student who was playing on the girls’ sports team.
"Although we cannot comment further, we will continue to follow state law and will take appropriate action based on the outcome of the investigation," a statement from the school district said at the time. "We are committed to providing all our students with a safe and inclusive learning environment."
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