PLANTATION, Fla. (AP) — A Florida school employee who allowed her transgender daughter to play on her school’s girls’ volleyball team is being suspended for 10 days after the district board found Tuesday that she violated the law state, but said firing her would be too strong.
The Broward County School Board voted 5-4 to suspend without pay Jessica Norton She worked at Monarch High School, where her 16-year-old daughter played on the varsity volleyball team the past two seasons. She also can no longer work as a computer specialist, but must be given a job with equal pay and responsibility.
The board concluded that Norton’s actions violated state rights Fairness in Women’s Sports Law, which bans transgender women from playing girls’ sports in high school. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature adopted it in 2021 despite opposition from the Broward council.
“Our employee chose not to follow the law,” said board member Debbi Hixon, who proposed the censure. But, she said: “It was a first offence. We wouldn’t fire someone for the first offense.”
Norton, who was removed from the school after the violation was discovered in November and later 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 about the issue with her daughter, who left school despite being class president and homecoming princess. Maybe they could get back together, she said.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. Nothing,” Norton said.
The treatment of transgender children has been a controversial issue across the country in recent years. Florida is among at least 25 states that have adopted bans on gender-affirming care for minors and one of at least 24 states that have adopted a law banning transgender women and girls from certain girls’ and women’s sports. The Nortons are plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit seeking to block the Florida law as a violation of their daughter’s civil rights. Still pending.
During Tuesday’s hour-long debate, Hixon proposed punishing Norton after casting the deciding vote against an earlier motion calling for a five-day suspension without changing jobs. She said it wasn’t serious enough. He failed by 5-4 votes.
But, Hixon argued, firing Norton was too harsh for a seven-year employee with stellar reviews and a caring reputation among students.
“This is not someone who abused or harmed children,” Hixon said. “It’s really about not following the law.”
Still, Hixon said, Norton put the district in a legally difficult situation by falsely attesting that her son was born female on her state athletic eligibility form. The Florida Athletic Association fined Monarch $16,500 for violating the law, placed the school on probation, and the district could be sued under the law if another student believes she was kept off the volleyball team and lost scholarship opportunities. of studies because of Norton’s daughter.
Hixon said she wanted Norton to leave her job as a computer information specialist because in that position she might know of another transgender student who played girls’ sports and might not report it to administrators.
“This puts us as a school district in a bad spot,” Hixon said.
The other four “yes” votes believed a five-day suspension or no punishment was appropriate, but agreed with the 10-day ban as a compromise they could live with. They pointed to previous three-, five- and 10-day suspensions that were given to employees who physically or verbally abused students as evidence that Norton was being punished too harshly.
“I believe this case is unique,” said member Allen Zeman. “You can correctly assume there were problems in the way we (the council) handled this. You can also correctly assume that rules and laws have been broken. But I think it’s important that we find a solution that is consistent with the others.”
At least three board members supported Superintendent Howard Hepburn’s recommendation that Norton be fired for knowingly violating the law. Hepburn overruled a committee’s recommendation that Norton be suspended for 10 days.
Member Torey Alston said he believes the previous suspensions cited by Norton’s supporters were too lax and should not stop them from firing her. He said the board was sending the message that it would be “soft” on employees who violated bylaws simply because they disagreed with them.
“I have zero tolerance for breaking the law,” Alston said.
Norton and her husband stormed out of the meeting when member Brenda Fam repeatedly called their son a boy. Fam argued that Norton should face criminal charges, even though the Fairness Act only carries civil penalties aimed at violating schools. She compared Norton to a parent who falsifies an address to get their child into a better school, an act that is a crime under Florida law.
Fam said she supports the Fairness Act because it protects biological girls from having to compete against transgender girls who may be bigger and stronger. Norton and her supporters argued that her daughter has been taking puberty blockers and estrogen for several years and has no physical advantages over her teammates or opposing teams.
“This wasn’t a question about her son or her family, it was a question about what she did as an employee and how she harmed other people,” Fam said. She later denied misgendering Norton’s son, saying she was quoting a newspaper article.
Norton, after the meeting, said that Fam intentionally misgendered her son to spite her.
“It worked. I don’t think a school board member should misgender kids,” Norton said. “It’s a horrible thing.”
