FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Police in Florida say they may examine a lawmaker’s allegation {that a} transgender scholar might have sexually assaulted a feminine scholar in a center faculty rest room over the summer season — a rumored assault that college district officers say by no means occurred and that investigators say they acquired no reviews about.
After studying Republican State Rep. Randy Fantastic’s social media posts in regards to the alleged assault on Thursday, police within the japanese coast metropolis of Melbourne, simply south of Cape Canaveral, assigned two detectives to analyze the allegations, although they mentioned that they had acquired no earlier phrase of an assault.
Fantastic advised The Related Press on Friday that some mother and father approached him, saying a instructor on the faculty advised them in regards to the incident however that the instructor was “afraid to go public due to concern of retaliation by the college district.”
Brevard Public Faculties spokesperson Russell Bruhn disputed Fantastic’s allegations. “There was no assault. No sufferer, no witness, no mother and father coming ahead, nothing,” he advised the AP. “Rep. Fantastic owes our employees at Johnson Center Faculty an apology for making this baseless allegation.”
Fantastic, a Republican lawmaker identified for fiery flooring speeches marked by indignation, drew a nationwide highlight earlier this 12 months when he sponsored a invoice to dissolve the non-public authorities Walt Disney World controls on its property in Florida as punishment for the corporate’s opposition to a brand new regulation barring gender id instruction in early grades that critics known as “Do not Say Homosexual.”
The reviews started circulating on Wednesday, and Florida As we speak reported Thursday that Fantastic had despatched a letter to Florida Training Commissioner Manny Diaz looking for an investigation into reviews {that a} transgender scholar — granted entry to the woman’s rest room by way of the district’s open loos coverage — had assaulted a feminine scholar over the summer season.
Melbourne police spokesperson Shaun Hill mentioned the division acquired no reviews of a sexual assault on the faculty over the summer season. However he mentioned Friday that the division, after seeing Fantastic’s social media posts, contacted him to ask for extra details about the alleged incident, and assigned two detectives to the case. Hill mentioned the investigation has simply began and there’s no additional data obtainable.
“I might assume that Rep. Fantastic can be keen to speak to the police himself and also will be keen to offer police with entry to the involved mother and father who’ve gone to him with this false data,” mentioned Bruhn, the college district spokesperson.
Within the letter to the training commissioner, Fantastic mentioned mother and father have been “stonewalled” of their inquiries to the college district, together with requests for public data.
College students attending summer season faculty at Johnson have been escorted to restrooms by adults throughout summer season faculty due to ongoing development, Bruhn advised Florida As we speak, which first reported the story. He mentioned college students from different district faculties have been additionally attending courses there and have been unfamiliar with the campus structure.
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Related Press reporter Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this report from Tallahassee.
