The principal of a high school in Broward has been reassigned amid an investigation into a transgender student athlete playing on a girl's sports team, sources told NBC6.
The principal at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, along with several staff members, have been reassigned to non-school sites pending an investigation into allegations of improper student participation in sports, officials with Broward County Public Schools said in a statement Monday.
The statement didn't give further details on the investigation. Students at the high school told NBC6 that the investigation involved the girl's volleyball team.
"Although we cannot comment further, we will continue to follow state law and will take appropriate action based on the outcome of the investigation," the statement read. "We are committed to providing all our students with a safe and inclusive learning environment."
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James Cecil is listed as the school's principal online. His LinkedIn profile said he's worked for the district for more than 25 years.
Sources with Broward County Public Schools told NBC6 the reason for the reassignment has to do with a transgender student athlete playing on a girl’s sports team.
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A Florida statute says athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls are not open to male students, and says a "statement of a student’s biological sex on the student’s official birth certificate is considered to have correctly stated the student’s biological sex at birth if the statement was filed at or near the time of the student’s birth."
"He should not be able to play on the team," a student told NBC6. "If he is a biological boy, I don’t think he should be able to play on a girl's team."
Some students were mobilizing for a protest and a possible walk-out in protest of the reassignment and in support of the transgender community.
"If we were to just sit here and just get them to go to the boy's team, then it would look like we are not supportive of people’s perspective on things, like, being a girl or a boy or whatever, and this school is really big on LGBTQ+ clubs and stuff like that, so, it kind of would look more hypocritical on our part," another student said.
