Florida public school employee Jessica Norton said a school investigation "destroyed" her transgender daughter's life, calling out the Broward County school board over an investigation that outed her child due to her participation in Monarch High School's girls' volleyball team.
Norton’s daughter was thriving at Monarch High School in suburban Fort Lauderdale until an anonymous tipster notified a Broward County school board member in November that the 16-year-old was playing on the girls' varsity volleyball team, apparently violating the 2021 Fairness in Women’s Sports Act. This state law prohibits students born male from participating in girls' sports.
This tip initiated a school district investigation, jeopardizing Norton's position as a computer information specialist at Monarch High School. Norton is accused of permitting her daughter to play and not reverting her child's gender designation on school records to “male,” as required by district policy.
During a school board meeting on Tuesday, Norton described the profound impact of the investigation on her daughter's life.
She recounted her daughter's achievements, including being elected freshman and sophomore class president, serving as the student body’s director of philanthropy, and being a homecoming princess—all of which ended when the investigation began and her daughter left Monarch, prompting the girl to study online.
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Norton outlined her contributions and support for students as a member of Monarch's staff, adding:
"I am not here to beg for my job. The decision to make a political example out of me was made well before the anonymous tip that launched the investigation was reported. We are here to speak for our family and tell you how careless actions by the district's leadership have affected our daughter and our family."
“For 203 days we have lived in a constant state of limbo and uncertainty. It feels never-ending. This has added unimaginable stress to our family's lives."
"I've complied with requirements of the investigation at every step. I have been direct and truthful, but the district officials have not afforded me the same respect. I have been disregarded by the district both as a parent and a dedicated employee.”
"The district completely ignored my rights under my collective bargaining agreement that requires that this investigation be concluded in 30 days."
Norton said she was pulled from her job and forced to work "manual and janitorial services" while later being subjected to an interview in which officials "insisted on referring to my daughter as my son" while "refusing to use her legal name, her legal gender" despite pressure from her attorneys.
Detectives, she said, referred to her daughter as "it."
The district never communicated with her accordingly, she added, noting that she found out most information about the investigation "from the press." Norton said she has "been in limbo with the hanging threat of termination."
She then described how this period has impacted her daughter:
"“For 203 days, I have been forthright and honest and have not been treated with a shred of respect or simple decency. District leadership tried to ruin my life, but instead destroyed the life of an innocent 16-year-old girl. They destroyed her high school career and her lifelong memories and experiences."
“My daughter was flourishing at Monarch. She was not just a volleyball player. ... She was a freshman and sophomore class president, she was director of philanthropy for student government, and she was voted homecoming princess by her peers."
"I saw the light in my daughter’s eyes gleam with future plans of organizing and attending prom, participating in and leading senior class traditions, speaking at graduation and going off to college with the confidence and joy that any student like her would after a successful and enriching high school experience. And 203 days ago, I watched as that light was extinguished."
Norton added that her daughter "walked out of the front door of the school, distraught, never to be heard from again," noting that "no one has shown our family that they care." She also described the stress of ensuring her daughter's safety by enrolling her in "virtual school" and criticized the "reckless manner" that "outed our daughter to the community."
She concluded:
“The senior leaders of the district should be embarrassed that they’re in charge of the lives of children, seeing as they had no problem destroying the life of my daughter. But you know what? I’s okay if I’m the villain in their story because I am the hero in my daughter's story.”
Norton's remarks quickly went viral, prompting many to criticize the Broward County school board's blatant transphobia.
The school board was scheduled to vote Tuesday on Superintendent Howard Hepburn's recommendation to fire Norton, but the decision has been delayed by at least a month. A district committee had recommended a 10-day suspension, but Hepburn overruled it without providing an explanation. The board now has the option to fire Norton, suspend her, or take no action.
Monarch Principal James Cecil and three other administrators were temporarily reassigned at the start of the investigation but were reinstated after student protests. Additionally, the state's athletic commission fined the school $16,500.
Students at Broward's Monarch High School stage walkout over trans athlete investigationwww.youtube.com
According to the district investigative report, board member Daniel Foganholi contacted the district's police department after receiving the tip. Foganholi, appointed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis after an elected board member was found ineligible to serve, did not respond to requests for comment.
Norton’s daughter began taking puberty blockers at age 11 and takes estrogen but has not undergone gender-affirming surgery. Such procedures are rarely performed on minors. Her parents assert that she has no athletic advantages from being born male and often sat on the bench for Monarch’s volleyball team.
In response to Foganholi's complaint, Broward schools assigned two officers to investigate. They scrutinized school records for Norton’s daughter, locked them in a vault, and interviewed officials from her middle and elementary schools to ascertain who knew she was transgender and when her records were changed. Investigators also interviewed Norton and three Monarch volleyball players.
Norton explained that she enrolled her youngest child in kindergarten as a boy in 2013, four years before she began working for the district. The child transitioned to a girl in first grade, a fact known to other parents and children.
Norton said she requested a school employee to change her child's gender on school records when she was in second grade, following guidance from then-Superintendent Robert Runcie. However, the district maintains that such changes are only permissible if the birth certificate is amended first, which was not done until 2021.
Norton knew about the state law barring transgender girls from playing girls' sports when her daughter entered high school in 2022. Investigators asked why she still allowed her daughter to play volleyball and marked “female” on a permission form that asked for the child's “sex at birth.” Norton replied, “Because she’s my child and she wanted to play.” Norton also coached the junior varsity volleyball team.
