Florida School District Suspends Employee Whose Transgender Daughter Played on a Girls’ Sports Team

A Florida school board voted to suspend a district employee after she allowed her transgender daughter to play on a high school girls’ sports team.

In a meeting held on Tuesday, July 30, the Broward School Board decided to suspend Jessica Norton for 10 days without pay. The board argued that she violated the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act by allowing her teenage daughter to play on the girls’ volleyball team at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, Fla.

According to notes from the meeting, Norton worked at the school as an information management specialist.

The board initially considered terminating Norton’s employment, until one board member suggested a five-day suspension instead.

Board member Debra Hixon insisted that five days was not an adequate consequence, claiming that the staffer “knew what the law was and she made the decision not to follow the law. In the report, as I read it before, she also indicated that she would do it again.” Hixon clarified that she also did not believe termination was appropriate for a first offense.

Ultimately, the board voted 5-4 to suspend Norton for 10 days without pay. Upon returning to the school, she will be moved to a different position.

A community member from the youth LGBTQ+ organization Prism defended Norton during the meeting by sharing a testimony from a former student who said the staffer “provided me with constant encouragement and support.”

“I met Mrs. Norton as a freshman. When my brother introduced me to her, I quickly learned that she was a crowd-favorite in the school. A trusted adult who would let you cry on her shoulder. Anyone with an issue would go to Mrs. Norton for guidance,” the advocate said.

Florida Gov. Ron Desantis signed the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act in 2021, which states “that an athletic team or sport that is designated for females, women, or girls may not be open to students of the male sex, based on the student’s biological sex listed on the student’s official birth certificate at the time of birth.”

The bill applies to all sports that are sponsored by a public secondary school, high school, public college and university institution in the state.

In 2023, school board member Daniel Foganholi — who was appointed by DeSantis — received an “anonymous tip” that a transgender student was playing sports at the high school, per Human Rights Campaign. The student ended up being Norton’s daughter.

According to the organization, the school board, superintendent and senior district leadership were aware that her daughter played the sport at the high school and nobody had previously objected. 

“There is no way around it, I’m being punished because I am the parent of a transgender student,” Norton said in a statement obtained by HRC. “While I can finally breathe a sigh of relief that this 239-day investigation is finally over, ending the constant scrutiny and allowing me to keep my job, I am still frustrated with the decision the school board made today.”

She continued, “Every action I took to support my daughter was as her parent, not as an employee of Monarch High School — it was never my decision whether my daughter played volleyball.”

CNN reports that Norton doesn’t believe “that the decision for any suspension was correct” and is unsure if she will return to the school.

The outlet also states that Norton “walked out” during the meeting after a board member referred to her daughter as “her son” repeatedly.

PEOPLE reached out to the Broward County school district for comment.