Monarch High School fined, placed on probation over trans student-athlete
COCONUT CREEK -- Monarch High School has been placed on probation and fined for allowing a transgender student to play on the girls' volleyball team.
In a three-page letter obtained by our news partners at the Miami Herald, the school is being accused of breaking the law.
A small protest was held outside the Broward School Board Office on Tuesday afternoon.
The demonstrators told CBS News Miami they want schools in Florida to be safe for every student and it follows that transgender student who was outed last month after it was learned that she was playing for the girls' volleyball team after being born biologically a male.
As a result, several school administrators and support staff were reassigned.
The news prompted reaction from both sides and even prompted a school walkout in support of that student.
The Florida Athletic Association has fined Monarch High School $16,500 and put the school on administrative probation until next November.
The trans student has also been banned from representing the school for a year.
The people we spoke to on Tuesday say it doesn't matter how you were biologically born but at the heart of it, they say kids just want to be kids.
Andre Cardona, who is a trans student, said, "I think people should take the time to do their research and go online and read books about being assigned female at birth and being assigned male at birth."
"A biological male body and the female body and how those things are not so binary and they're not universal and everything is so much more in-depth and nuanced than you're making it out to be."
The 2021 law, which supporters named "The Fairness in Women's Sports Act," bars transgender girls and women from playing on public school teams intended for student-athletes identified as girls at birth.
The student, a 10th grader who played in 33 matches over the last two seasons, was removed from the team last month after the Broward County School District was notified by an anonymous tipster about her participation. Her removal led hundreds of Monarch students to walk out of class two weeks ago in protest.
The Associated Press contributed to this report