A Florida high school volleyball coach who was suspended for allowing a transgender student to play on the girls' team has claimed he was unaware she had transitioned.
Alex Burgess is one of five employees at Monarch High School, including principal James Cecil, whose job is on the line after allowing the student to play on the female volleyball team.
He told the Miami Herald that he did not know the player was born male and only found out last month, despite the student identifying as a girl since she was a toddler.
“I had no idea,” he said. “I think there were people who already knew, but I think whoever came in to do some kind of investigation pointed fingers at her.”
Jessica Norton, an information management specialist and volleyball coach at the school, identified herself Monday as the mother of the transgender child.
Monarch High School staff was suspended after someone sent a tip to local officials that the team had a biological male to compete as a female, in violation of state law.
A Florida high school volleyball coach who was suspended for allowing a transgender student to play on the girls' team has claimed he was unaware she had transitioned
Alex Burgess is one of five employees at Monarch High School, including principal James Cecil, whose job is on the line after the student played on the female volleyball team
Jessica Norton, an information management specialist and volleyball coach at the school, identified herself Monday as the mother of the transgender child
The student started taking hormone blockers at the age of eleven and had been on the team for two years. The unnamed student began identifying as a girl at the age of three.
Her mother Norton claimed her daughter's removal was a direct attempt to endanger her.
“There's a long history in this country of people getting out against their will. Forced outings, especially of a child, are a direct attempt to endanger the person being deported,” Norton's statement said.
“We kindly ask everyone to respect our family's privacy and give our family the space we need to talk about our experiences on our own terms and timeline.”
Norton filed a lawsuit on behalf of her child in 2021, seeking to allow her to compete on the girls' high school teams.
It argued that a Florida law banning this was unconstitutional, but this was rejected by a federal judge.
According to the lawsuit, the student “presented” as female as early as kindergarten.
“As early as age three, she was exhibiting behavior traditionally associated with being a girl and insisting on wearing clothes and colors (pink) that girls wore,” the report said.
'She saw herself as a girl and conveyed that in clear terms to her parents. When they were five or six, her parents realized, based on her behavior and statements, that their daughter was transgender.”
She also developed a love of soccer and competed with the girls in high school, the lawsuit added.
“At age 11, on the recommendation of her endocrinologist, she began taking hormone blockers to stop testosterone,” the report said.
'This year she started receiving estrogen under medical supervision and will continue to do so for the rest of her life. This allows her to live like the girl/woman she is.'
Students rallied behind their principal, James Cecil (pictured), and four other staffers who were reassigned following 'allegations of inappropriate student participation in sports'
Monarch High School assistant principal Kenneth May (left) and teacher and athletic director Dione Hester (right) were also reassigned
Participation of transgender girls and women on girls' and women's sports teams in public schools is prohibited under Florida state law
Her mother Norton thanked the community for their continued love and support.
“The outpouring of love and support from our community this past week has been inspiring, selfless and courageous,” she wrote. “Seeing the resistance and showing love in our community was so joyful for our family – the light that guided us through this darkness,” she said in a statement.
“I want everyone to know that we see it and we are so grateful. “Many things have been taken from my family this week: our privacy, our sense of security, and the right to self-determination,” Norton said in the statement released Monday by the national Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group representing the girl. .
Her daughter has not been named, but the decision to let her play led to the suspension of Norton and four other school officials. In Florida, state law requires students to play on teams of their biological birth.
The school district has reassigned Norton from information management technician to a non-school location pending the results of the investigation.
Norton also coached the school's volleyball team, but was not a coach for her daughter, according to reports.
The mother's statement came just days after hundreds of high school students in Florida staged a walkout this week over the district's decision.
Monarch High School students gathered on the football field last week, waving signs in support of their peers and chanting “trans lives matter.”
The first protest came a day after Principal Cecil and three other staffers – Assistant Principal Kenneth May, Athletics Director Dione Hester and Norton – were moved to “non-school locations.”
Temporary athletics coach Burgess was also told his services would be suspended.
An investigation is underway into the decision to allow the transgender to participate.
A spokesperson for Broward County Public Schools said Cecil and the other staffers had been reassigned “pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of inappropriate student participation in sports.”
“I think this completely ruined her life,” team captain Jordan Campbell said of the unnamed student.
“I played with her and I think anyone who thinks they have an opinion about her but doesn't even know her has no idea who she is. She was the sweetest person anyone ever met.”
Chief Inspector Peter Licata said the reinstatement was 'not an indication of discipline' and added that 'nobody is guilty of anything at this stage'
Hundreds of students at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, Florida, flooded the football field in back-to-back demonstrations in support of their school principal
The teens waved signs in support of school staff and chanted 'trans lives matter'
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law in 2021 banning transgender girls and women from girls' and women's sports teams in public schools.
“In Florida, girls will play girls' sports and boys will play boys' sports,” DeSantis said as he signed the bill. “We're going to make sure that's the reality.”
The statute says that athletic teams or sports designated for women, women or girls are not open to male students.
It adds that “a statement of a student's biological sex on the student's official birth certificate shall be deemed to have correctly stated the student's biological sex at birth.”
More than two dozen other states have similarly restrictive laws, including Kansas, North Dakota and Wyoming.
The district's superintendent, Peter Licata, insisted the reinstatement was “not an indication of discipline,” adding, “Again, we want to make sure we get this right, no one is guilty of anything at this point.” '