Hundreds of students at a Florida high school went on strike Tuesday after the principal and several school officials were reportedly reassigned over the inclusion of a transgender student on the girls’ volleyball team. Ta.
Students at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, about 25 miles north of Fort Lauderdale, filed out of their classrooms and onto the school’s football field around noon, according to aerial footage from NBC Miami. Some held placards defending transgender rights, while others chanted “trans lives matter.” The protest came a day after the high school’s principal, James Cecil, and four other staff members were reassigned outside the school. NBC Miami also reported that the incident comes amid an ongoing investigation by Broward County officials into whether the school allowed a transgender student to play on its girls’ volleyball team. This would be a violation of state law.
Cecil could not be reached for comment.
A spokesperson for Broward County Public Schools confirmed that Cecil and other staff members had been reassigned “pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of inappropriate student participation in sports,” but added that She did not say whether it was because of her gender.
The district’s Superintendent Peter Licata answered a series of rapid-fire questions from reporters about the inclusion of a transgender student on the high school’s girls’ volleyball team during a news conference Tuesday. Licata told reporters there would now be a “new process” for qualifying athletes.
“We’re going to do a higher level of investigation to make sure everyone is eligible to participate in the sport they’re playing, in terms of grades, grades, everything,” he said.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, will sign a law in 2021 that will ban transgender girls and women from participating in girls’ and women’s sports teams in public schools. did. More than 20 other states have similar laws restricting transgender athletes from participating in school sports. Representatives from the Florida governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
In June 2021, a lawsuit was filed against the governor, the Broward County Board of Education, and several other Florida officials, marking a milestone in preventing sexual discrimination in federally funded schools. Alleged violations of Title IX of the Civil Rights Act. federal government. The plaintiff in the case, which a federal judge dismissed earlier this month, is a teenager who was trying out for a public school volleyball team in Broward County and is identified only by her initials.
An attorney for the anonymous trans girl did not immediately respond to a request for comment. When asked if she was the same student mentioned in the lawsuit, Licata said she was unaware of the existence of the lawsuit.
Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco suggested that the reassigned staff may not have known that it was against the law to include trans students on their teams.
“It’s becoming increasingly difficult for our educators to really understand everything that’s going on,” she said. “Our teachers don’t always understand new laws that are coming into effect or old laws that are already in place.”
She added, “They just want to show up and be teachers, coaches, counselors to help students grow.”
Licata said it was unclear whether the principal or other staff members were aware of any violations of the law and would be part of the investigation.