‘I fought very hard’: Broward schools suspends employee, mother of trans student

After months of back and forth on whether to terminate an employee of Monarch High School, Broward schools decided on a 10-day suspension at a Tuesday board meeting.

Jessica Norton, the mother of a transgender daughter who is in the center of a sports controversy, worked as the high school’s information management specialist and JV volleyball coach. Norton was removed from her job along with several other employees after an investigation was launched last November by then-Superintendent Peter Licata for “allegations of improper student participation in sports.” Norton’s daughter had been participating on the school’s volleyball team in violation of a state law, known as the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” which prohibits female students who were born male from playing on female sports teams.

“I fought very hard for 11 years to make sure she was very comfortable in her skin,” said Jessica Norton after hearing the news that she would not be terminated.

The special investigation unit originally recommended a 10-day suspension but Superintendent Howard Hepburn proposed the district terminate Norton. During Tuesday’s meeting Hepburn stood firm on his decision, with board member Torey Alston backing him up.

During the meeting board member Jeff Holness proposed to suspend Norton for five days, with only a few school board members backing the motion.

“I believe the district dropped the ball on this,” said Holness, who previously said that the state already fined the school $16,500 .

The motion failed 4-5.

School board member Allen Zeman argued against the termination after going down a list of district employees who had broken different laws. At last week’s board meeting, Alston had requested that the district compile this list so the board could understand what decisions had been made in the past. The list included several cases of students being abused and sexual misconduct.

“This case is unique in its own rights,” Zeman said. “It’s important for us to come up with a solution to this that is consistent with the others.”

Alston called the actions on the list “atrocious” but said he did not want the school board to to make the same mistakes as it did in the past.

Brenda Fam was adamant in her position to terminate Norton. In front of her space at the table was a flier that read “Warning” in red. When it was her turn to speak, Fam walked around her seat, ripping the sign off and holding it up for the audience to see.

The flier was a warning for parents to not falsify their addresses for their students to attend a school outside of their school districts or they could be arrested. Fam said that Norton submitting her daughter’s documents stating she was a girl was analogous to falsifying documents just like parents who try to get their kids into schools outside their districts.

“I think what happened is criminal, in my opinion, “ she said. “And I’m gonna go through chronologically what happened here.”

Fam went on to use her four minutes to speak to outline Norton’s daughter from second grade to when she departed from Monarch, calling Norton a “LGBTQ+ advocate.”

At one point in her speech Fam looked directly to Norton and her husband, Gary Norton, who sat beside her.

“It’s funny, keep laughing. This is really funny. $16,500 fine. Did you pay for it?”

Fam said Norton “inappropriately” requested the district change her child’s gender when she was in second grade. Several times, Fam referred to Norton’s trans daughter as her “son” and used he/him pronouns, causing Norton and her husband to exit the auditorium at Plantation High School. They remained outside the building until a the final vote was made.

Fam claimed that Norton was described in a Miami Herald article as “being hired as an LGBTQ advocate,” which Norton denied outside the high school. A December 2023 Herald profile of Norton quotes one of her social media posts where she was being honored by an organization for being a transgender advocate. “I recently was hired at the high school she will eventually attend and will be working with the teachers and staff to bring awareness to the school about transgender students and their rights,” she wrote. The job she was hired for at Monarch High was information management specialist.

Fam interrupted several board members and public commenters.

School board member Sarah Leonardi asked the superintendent and school board members to point out where Norton used her access as a faculty member to change her child’s gender. No one could cite that explicitly in the investigation.

Board chair Debra Hixon clarified that she previously suggested Norton not have a role that gives her access to school documents because she turned a blind eye to her daughter playing on the volleyball team, which directly violates the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.

“This is really about not following the law,” Hixon said. “It isn’t even about her changing records. It is about knowing that there was a transgender student playing female sports while you were a coaching employee in the school.”

Hixon suggested the district suspend Norton and to remove her from the IT position.

Hixon, Holness, Leonardi, Nora Rupert, and Zeman voted in favor of the 10-day suspension. Lori Alhadeff, Alston, Daniel Foganholi, and Fam voted against.

Outside the building Norton said she would go home to discuss the next steps with her family, but she does love her job.

“I fought for her,” Norton said to the media. “I didn’t back down. I didn’t quit when I’m pretty sure that they wanted me to just resign and say I’m done.”

She said this is what every parent should do for their children.