A Broward County high school has been reprimanded and fined after state officials said a transgender student-athlete was allowed to play on a girl's volleyball team for two seasons in violation of Florida law.
Monarch High School in Coconut Creek was fined $16,500 and will be on administrative probation for a full calendar year, according to a letter sent to the school Tuesday by the Florida High School Athletic Association.
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The fine represents $500 for each of the 33 volleyball contests the transgender athlete participated in for Monarch in the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons.
Monarch High School representatives are also required to attend an FHSAA Compliance Seminar in 2024 and 2025, while the current principal and athletic director are required to attend an FHSAA approved Compliance Seminar in the summer of 2024 and the summer of 2025.
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Monarch High School will also host FHSAA Staff for an Eligibility & Compliance Workshop in 2024.
In addition, the student-athlete has been "declared ineligible to represent any member school for a period of one year from the date of discovery – November 21, 2023 – November 20, 2024," the letter said.
The issue came to light when Broward Public School Superintendent Dr. Peter Licata said he'd received a complaint just days before Thanksgiving that a transgender girl, who'd been born a boy, was competing on a girl's volleyball team.
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An investigation was launched and the school's principal and other staffers were reassigned.
The FHSAA's letter didn't state whether Principal James Cecil or the staffers would be reinstated.
A Florida statute says athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls are not open to male students, and says a "statement of a student’s biological sex on the student’s official birth certificate is considered to have correctly stated the student’s biological sex at birth if the statement was filed at or near the time of the student’s birth."
On the state’s high school athletic association’s pre-participation physical evaluation form, the question of a student's “sex assigned at birth” appears at the very top, then two additional times on the form.
Around half the states in the country have similar laws for girls' sports.
"Thanks to @GovRonDeSantis, Florida passed legislation to protect girls’ sports and we will not tolerate any school that violates this law," Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz said in a post on X. "We applaud the swift action taken by the @FHSAA to ensure there are serious consequences for this illegal behavior."
The student's family sued the district and the state a few years ago, questioning the constitutionality of the law. A federal judge ruled against the student earlier in November.
Licata denied that the principal and staffer reassignments had anything to do with the lawsuit.
In a statement Tuesday, Jason Starr, a litigation strategist with Human Rights Campaign who represents the family, said he plans to amend the complaint.
"Today’s determination by the Florida High School Athletics Association does not change the fact that the law preventing transgender girls from playing sports with their peers is unconstitutionally rooted in anti-transgender bias, and the Association’s claim to ensure equal opportunities for student athletes rings hollow," the statement read. "The reckless indifference to the wellbeing of our client and her family, and all transgender students across the State, will not be ignored. While the Norton family continues to fight for their daughter, we ask everyone to respect their privacy."
Some Monarch High students protested the reassignments and held walkouts and demonstrations in support of the student-athlete.
The student's mother, Jessica Norton, released a statement after officials announced the reassignments, saying in part, "A lot of things were taken from my family this week—our privacy, sense of safety, and right to self-determination."
