Monroe Public Schools athletic director put on administrative leave after podcast appearance
A Southeast Michigan school district has placed its athletic director on leave in response to an interview he gave for an upcoming podcast on a Title IX issue involving an alleged transgender athlete at another school.
Chet Hesson, Monroe Public Schools athletic director, appeared in an upcoming podcast episode with Uncloseted Media and voiced his support for the student-athlete.
In a statement, Monroe Public Schools Superintendent Andrew Shaw said that Hesson was not authorized to speak on behalf of the district.
"Monroe Public Schools only issues official statements through the Office of the Superintendent or the Board President. Individual staff members expressing their personal opinions do not express the official position of the District," the statement said.
The district continued, "At this time the District stands by its original statement regarding the pending Title IX investigation. We are committed to our process and will provide you with an official statement after the investigation is complete."
The school district did not provide further details of the media interview.
Uncloseted Media has announced on its Instagram account that a podcast episode scheduled to post on Tuesday will discuss a Title IX complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education, the Michigan High School Athletic Association and Monroe Public Schools over what happened when Monroe High School hosted Ann Arbor Skyline's volleyball team for competition.
In a short clip from the upcoming episode that was shared on Instagram, Hesson said, "For this alleged student at Skyline, my heart goes to them, whether they're trans or not. Just having that much negative eyeball on you and rhetoric is incredible. The amount of pressure you feel as a 16- or 17- or 18-year-old to have to deal with that... I would not wish that on anybody."
The complaint claims that during one of the matchups at Monroe, the students from both teams shared a locker room, which constitutes "a violation of privacy and bodily integrity protections under Title IX."
A news conference took place Dec. 8 at the Monroe County Courthouse in downtown Monroe, during which the complaint was presented.
The student-athlete's name has not been made public, but the MHSAA has told CBS Detroit that "One waiver for eligibility was granted under our transgender student policy for the 2025-26 fall sports season," and that the waiver was granted in compliance with applicable state and federal law.
The above video originally aired Dec. 8, 2025.