School board suspends employee who allowed her transgender daughter to play girls volleyball
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/school-board-suspends-employee-who-allowed-her-transgender-daughter-to-play-girls-volleyball/ar-BB1qUZrd?ocid=windirect&cvid=1611c72a19244835a82292d7c1b813cc&ei=70
Story by Terry Spencer (31 July 2024)
A school employee who let her transgender daughter play on her high school's girls volleyball team is being suspended after the district's board found that she violated state law but said firing her would be too severe.
The Broward County school board voted 5-4 to suspend without pay Jessica Norton 's employment at Monarch High School, where her 16-year-old daughter played on the varsity volleyball team the last two seasons.
She can also no longer work as a computer information specialist but must be given a job with equal pay and responsibility.
The board found that Norton's actions violated the state's Fairness in Women's Sports Act, which bars transgender females from playing girls high school sports. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature adopted it in 2021, over the Broward board's opposition.
Norton, who was removed from the school after the violation was discovered in November and then placed on paid leave, called the vote an "incorrect decision" but said it was better than being fired. She said she wasn't sure if she would accept the punishment and return to work. She wanted to talk it over with her daughter, who left the school even though she had been her class president and a homecoming princess.