Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis responds to latest Trump attacks
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The Florida High School Athletic Association listened to pushback against a proposed eligibility form requiring female athletes to report their detailed menstrual history to compete in sports and struck the questions from the questionnaire during an emergency meeting Thursday.
The formerly proposed form asked female students detailed questions about their menstrual cycle such as when they had their first period, when their most recent period was and the average length of time between each of their periods.
After uproar over the questions ensued, the governing board's executive director recommended the questions be stricken from the form entirely and that personal information on medical forms be kept out of schools and left with physicians instead.
Tampons, a panty liner and a sanitary napkin from different manufacturers are on one table. (Photo by Annette Riedl/picture alliance via Getty Images))
"As a father of three daughters who all played middle school and high school sports and completed the pre-participation physical each year, I really understand the concern over making these questions mandatory," board member Doug Dodd said during an emergency meeting called to discuss the four-page form on Thursday morning.
"Our family felt that these questions were private, and we chose not to answer those optional questions, but now, if the association were to mandate those questions and to require them to be answered, I have a real problem with that as a parent. Secondly, as an elected school board member, I do not believe that the detailed questions and information on pages one, two and three need to be shared with schools. Instead, this information should be kept private, between the families and the physician," he added.
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Florida High School Athletic Association met on February 9 to discuss a controversial form requiring female athletes to report their detailed menstrual history. (FHSAA/YouTube Screenshot)
Dodd said he had never seen such a dramatically "skewed" response from all perspectives aligning on an issue in requesting that the questions be removed and agreed with the executive director's recommendation to remove the questions and allow only the page signed by a physician to be submitted to schools.
Board member John Gerdes struck down complaints that the questions were originally intended to restrict female participation in sports as well as rumors circulating that Gov. Ron DeSantis was behind the fiasco.
"This had nothing to do with him… they did not contact us. This was our issue to deal with, and I just want to make that clear," he said of DeSantis' office, after disclosing he voted for neither party for the state's governor. "The second issue that came through was that we're trying to curtail opportunities for females in sports. Nothing could be further from the truth," he added.
Despite blame pinned on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, R, both the Associated Press and a board member clarified that the controversial questions did not come from his office. (Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The controversial questions had been on the questionnaire since 2002, but were optional. Parents became concerned, however, that they could soon become mandatory.
"When I spoke with my 16-year-old to let her know that this proposal was being considered, and that there were four mandatory questions related to menstrual cycles, she was deeply disturbed. I mean, moved almost to tears," concerned Florida mom Jenn Poggie told News4JAX.
The board ultimately voted 14-2 to remove the questions from the form during Thursday's emergency meeting and will now require student athletes to submit only one page of the health evaluation form once a doctor determines they are healthy enough to participate in sports and signs off on the form.
Board members Chris Patricca and Charlie Ward were the two dissenting votes.
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The FHSAA provided the following statement to Fox News Digital about their emergency meeting in Gainesville on Thursday.
"During the meeting, the Board was presented with, and supported a proposed change to the PreParticipation Examination (PPE) as required by Florida Statute 1002.20(17)(b), 1006.20(2)(c) and FHSAA Bylaw 9.7 to ensure safe participation in sports by student athletes. The proposal submitted and endorsed by the FHSAA Executive Director, Craig Damon, recommends adopting the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee’s (SMAC) proposed form with the exception of removing questions 30-33.
"Furthermore, only the fourth page of the EL2 (the medical eligibility form) will be submitted to the member school. The qualified health care practitioner performing the examination or parent/guardian will retain the medical history and/or examination form (pages 1-3). The motion to accept the new PPE form was approved by a vote of 14-2 by the board of directors. It is important to understand that the intention of this proposal is to provide an updated PPE form that ensures health, safety, and risk minimization for the student-athletes in Florida. Further the FHSAA values and protects student-athlete’s privacy while including pertinent medical information that a health care provider at a member school would need access to in the event of a medical emergency.
"Lastly, the concerns of student-athletes, parents, SMAC, and other stakeholders have been carefully and respectfully heard. The FHSAA shares in the concern and belief that our student-athletes deserve privacy through their health, safety, and well-being. This change addresses concerns of students and parents’ disapproval of the sharing of a female’s menstrual cycle, as well as medical information being viewed by non-healthcare providers at FHSAA member schools, while ensuring that the on-site health care provider can provide necessary care for our student-athletes as suggested by the SMAC.
"Craig Damon, FHSAA Executive Director said, ‘Thank you to the SMAC and all other stakeholders who provided insight which resulted in reaching the best decision for the student-athletes in the state of Florida.’ The FHSAA Board of Directors is slated to convene again for their third regularly scheduled meeting of the 2022-23 school year on February 26th-27th in Gainesville at the FHSAA office."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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