After outrage from angry parents, the Florida High School Athletic Association this week voted to remove some controversial questions from physical evaluation forms for student athletes.
The new form has removed questions about athletes' menstrual histories. But FHSAA staff appear to have quietly changed a field on the form to ask student athletes for their "sex assigned at birth."
Florida's previous form asked athletes for their "sex" and included five optional questions about their menstrual history. The entire medical history form had to be turned into schools.
Parents, students and physicians called for the FHSAA to remove the questions, following an investigation by the Palm Beach Post into the menstrual questions' origin and where the answers were stored.
However, a recommendation from the FHSAA's sports medicine committee in January suggested that the association make the menstrual questions mandatory and require athletes to turn answers in when they register to play.
Guests:
- Jenn Meale Poggie, founder of “Privacy. Period!” campaign.
- Katherine Kokal, education reporter for the Palm Beach Post.
Special legislative session
Florida lawmakers are in Tallahassee for another special session that kicked off this week to tackle a number of issues.
This comes just weeks before lawmakers were scheduled to assemble for the state’s regular 60-day annual legislative session in March.
A number of items are the docket for the two-week special session, including a measure to expand the state’s controversial migrant flight program and another that would remove Disney’s independent special district status — two of the Governor’s legislative priorities.
Guests:
- Jeff Brandes, former state senator from Pinellas County.
- Steve Bousquet, opinion editor for the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Hurricane help
FEMA continues to help Floridians rebuild from Hurricane Nicole and Hurricane Ian.
The agency says it has approved more than 7,600 households in Florida to receive group flood insurance policies for the next three years.
Guest: Kimberly Fuller, spokesperson for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
