PLANTATION, Fla. (AP) — A Florida school employee who let her transgender daughter play on her high school’s girls volleyball team is being suspended for
Jessica Norton, left, and her husband Gary leave Plantation High School after the Broward County School Board voted against firing her at a meeting in Plantation, Fla., Tuesday, July 30, 2024. Norton, who let her transgender daughter play on her high school's girls volleyball team was found to have violated state law and suspended by the board for 10 days.
PLANTATION, Fla. — A Florida school employee who let her transgender daughter play on her high school’s girls volleyball team is being suspended for 10 days after the district’s board found on Tuesday 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. “Our employee made a choice not to follow the law,” said board member Debbi Hixon, who proposed the censure. But, she said, “It was a first offense. We would not terminate someone on their first offense.” 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. Maybe they could return together, she said.Treatment of transgender children has been a hot-button issue across the country over the last few years. Florida is among at least 25 states that adopted bans on gender-affirming care for minors and one of at least 24 states that’s adopted a law banning transgender women and girls from certain women’s and girls sports. The Nortons are plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit trying to block Florida’s law as a violation of their daughter’s civil rights. It remains pending. During Tuesday’s hour-long debate, Hixon proposed Norton’s punishment after casting the deciding vote against an earlier motion, which called for a five-day suspension with no change in jobs. She said that was not severe enough. It failed by a 5-4 vote. But, Hixon argued, firing Norton was too harsh for a seven-year employee with sterling evaluations and a caring reputation among students. “This isn’t somebody who abused or harmed children,” Hixon said. “This is really about not following the law.” Still, Hixon said, Norton put the district in a legally difficult spot by falsely attesting her child was born female on her state athletic eligibility form. The Florida athletic association fined Monarch $16,500 for violating the act, put the school on probation, and the district could be sued under the act if another student believes she was kept off the volleyball team and lost scholarship opportunities because of Norton’s daughter. Hixon said she wanted Norton moved from her job as a computer information specialist because in that position she could learn of another transgender student who was playing girls sports and might not report that to administrators.The four other “yes” votes believed a five-day suspension or no punishment was appropriate but agreed to 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 had physically or verbally abused students as evidence Norton was being punished too harshly. “I believe this case is unique,” member Allen Zeman said. “You can correctly surmise there have been problems with how we have dealt with it. You can also correctly surmise that rules and laws have been broken. But I think it is important that we come up with a solution that is consistent with the others.” At least three board members supported Superintendent Howard Hepburn’s recommendation that Norton be fired because she had knowingly violated the law. Hepburn had overridden a committee’s recommendation that Norton be suspended 10 days. Member Torey Alston said he believes the past suspensions cited by Norton’s supporters were too lax and shouldn’t preclude them from firing her. He said the board was sending the message that it would “go soft” on employees who violate statutes simply because they disagree with them.Norton and her husband stormed out of the meeting when member Brenda Fam repeatedly called her child a boy. Fam argued that Norton should face criminal charges 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 have argued her daughter has been on puberty blockers and estrogen for several years and has no physical advantages over her teammates or opposing teams. “This was not a question about her son or her family, it was an issue about what she did as an employee and how she harmed others,” Fam said. She later denied misgendering Norton’s child, saying she was quoting from a newspaper article.“It worked. I don’t think that a school board member should be misgendering children,” Norton said. “It’s a horrible thing.”ATLANTA — Georgia’s largest school district announced Tuesday that it won’t teach a new Advanced Placement course in African American Studies, saying the state Department of Education’s refusal to approve the course means its students would be cheated out of credit for the difficulty of the work. The decision by the 183,000-student Gwinnett County SAN FRANCISCO — Police in San Francisco will start clearing out homeless residents living in public areas under new policies announced Tuesday by the office of Mayor London Breed, who has pledged a more aggressive approach to tent encampments following a key U.S. Supreme Court decision. In a memo, Breed’s office said city workers MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Agolia Moore was shocked to get a call telling her that her son was found dead in an Alabama prison of a suspected drug overdose. She had spoken to him to earlier that evening and he was doing fine, talking about his hope to move into the prison’s honor dorm, Moore SUPPLY, N.C. — A day after confirming he wouldn’t be a candidate for Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday at a public event that he’s excited that Democrats “have a lot of great options for her to choose from.” Speaking in coastal Brunswick County with U.S. Environmental People who live near East Palestine, Ohio, can now get $25,000 apiece for any injuries they sustained after last year’s Norfolk Southern freight train derailment on top of whatever money they get for property damage as part of the $600 million class-action settlement. The lawyers who negotiated the deal have increased the estimated injury payment PHOENIX — The Navajo Nation planned Tuesday to test a tribal law that bans uranium from being transported on its land by ordering tribal police to stop trucks carrying the mineral and return to the mine where it was extracted in northern Arizona. But before tribal police could catch up with two semi-trucks on Sounds of scratching, gnawing or rustling in your home at night could be signs it could be time to call pest control.A local nonprofit is working to protect those driving on I-90 but they can't do it without help from the community.Seattle scholarship celebrates LGBTQ+ community Founded in 1991, the GSBA Scholarship & Education Fund, with the help of Carter Subaru, has invested almost $6 million in 552 scholars.In recent years, one of the most interesting families for whale watching is the West Coast Bigg's orcas' T65A pod.
Sports Weather Traffic Talk And Community. Home Mynorthwest.Com
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Florida’s welcome signs now say ‘Welcome to the Free State of Florida’The iconic “Welcome to Florida” highway signs that let drivers know they’re entering the Sunshine State have changed slightly.
Read more »
Florida’s welcome signs now say ‘Welcome to the Free State of Florida’The iconic “Welcome to Florida” highway signs that let drivers know they’re entering the Sunshine State have changed slightly.
Read more »
Rubio’s VP chances were hurt by the residency question - Live UpdatesFormer President Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) are both Florida residents, and
Read more »
Here's Tuesday night’s lineup of RNC speakers - Live UpdatesFlorida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are among the list.
Read more »
Texas' plantation prisons: Inside a 200-year history of forced labor shrouded in secrecyThis article was originally published by the Texas Observer, a nonprofit investigative news outlet.
Read more »
Florida school board unlikely to fire mom whose transgender daughter played on girls volleyball teamPLANTATION, Fla. (AP) — A Florida school board appeared unlikely Tuesday to fire an employee whose transgender daughter played girls' high school
Read more »