Photo Credit: Facebook/Shepard Scalf
A Florida teacher has claimed he was forced to resign from his job because the superintendent of the school district and parents believed he was transgender.
Shepard Scalf, 23, began working at Patriot Oaks Academy middle school, just outside of Jacksonville, in August 2025.
Scalf claims he was there just three weeks when he was abruptly told to resign or else he would be put on 'probationary release,' after which the school board would almost certainly dismiss him at its next meeting.
Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a charge of discrimination with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [complaint] on behalf of Scalf against the St Johns County School District and its superintendent, Doctor Brennan Asplen.
The ACLU alleges in the complaint that Scalf was made to resign after Asplen received a complaint from a parent who was upset over their perception that the teacher was transgender.
The discrimination complaint states that Scalf was never given a reason why he was being asked to resign, and was in fact told by the middle school's principal that he 'met every expectation' and that his performance was 'nothing less than exemplary.'
He claimed in the complaint that these comments removed 'any merits-based justification for firing me.'
Scalf is not transgender. He is an intersex person, which means he was born with reproductive anatomy that differs from what is typically considered 'male' or 'female.'
The ACLU claims that the St Johns County School District violated both state and federal civil rights laws when it allegedly dismissed Scalf because of his perceived gender identity.
'I am an intersex man with XY chromosomes who was assigned female at birth. I believe my termination was sex discrimination,' Scalf claimed in the complaint.
Scalf is seeking nothing more than to be reinstated in his position at Patriot Oaks Academy.
When Scalf was hired at the middle school last year, he submitted paperwork that showed he was assigned female at birth.
The teacher has Swyer's Syndrome, a rare genetic condition in which a person is born with external and internal female reproductive organs, yet also has XY chromosomes, which are associated with male development.
He therefore has traditionally masculine physical characteristics, despite medical records saying he was born female. Scalf got married to his wife, Kianna, in 2024.
According to the ACLU, Swyer's Syndrome falls under the intersex 'umbrella term,' which 'applies to people who have a range of innate variations in physical characteristics... that cause their bodies to develop in ways that do not fit typical binary expectations associated with male or female bodies.'
The ACLU further states: 'The vast majority of intersex people receive a social gender assignment of either male or female at birth... typically made based on the appearance of their external sex characteristics.'
