A South Florida high school that allowed a boy to play on a girls volleyball team in violation of state law is in hot water in the Sunshine State.
According to The Washington Post, the coach of Monarch High School girls’ volleyball side was “baffled” after receiving a phone call from the Broward County School District six weeks after the season ended informing him that his team was under investigation.
Alex Burgess, who is in his second year coaching the volleyball team, was also informed he was not allowed to enter the grounds of the Coconut Creek school.
The issue at hand, according to the Post, was that Burgess had allowed a male student to play on the team in violation of legislation passed in 2021 banning boys from playing in female sports teams in Florida.
Burgess claimed he did not know that the individual was not a girl, even though the student’s family has previously mounted legal challenges against Florida’s legislation on the issue.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education has since confirmed that there will be “serious consequences for those responsible.”
“As soon as the Department was notified that a biological male was playing on a girls’ team in Broward County, we instructed the district to take immediate action since this is a direct violation of Florida law,” Myers said, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
“It is completely unacceptable for the male student to have been allowed to play on a girls’ team, and we expect there will be serious consequences for those responsible.”
Meanwhile, CBS reported that students at the school staged a walkout Tuesday in solidarity with the student, who has not been publicly identified.
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Walkout at Monarch HS in support of trans gender volleyball player @SunSentinel @smtravis @browardschools @CoconutCreekPD @CoconutCreekGov @BrowardCounty pic.twitter.com/AWWIZTsu7h
— Joe Cavaretta (@PhotoSSentinel) November 28, 2023
ABC reported that the controversy has led to the suspension of the school’s Principal James Cecil, Assistant Principal Kenneth May, Athletic Director Dione Hester and two volleyball coaches.
NEW: Monarch High School principal reassigned amidst investigation into a biological male allegedly playing on the girls’ volleyball team https://t.co/XjlwCuctTX
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) November 28, 2023
The school district superintendent, Peter Licata, told reporters last week the investigation had begun following a tip-off from a constituent.
“I received a call from the constituent that there could be some factors that were not appropriate for girls’ volleyball,” Licata said at a news conference Tuesday, according to the Sun Sentinel.
However, he insisted he would conduct a “fair investigation” and would not prejudge the outcome.
“We want to make sure we do this right,” Licata said. “Nobody’s guilty of anything at this point. That’s what an investigation is for.”
Boys and men playing sports for girls and women has been one of the most contentious aspects of left’s push for transgender rights, and it has real-world consequences.
In volleyball, specifically, a girl playing volleyball against a team that included a male player suffered neck and shoulder injuries in the spring when she was struck by a ball spiked by the male player.
