The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights publicizes its first notice of investigation under the new administration.
The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is investigating Denver Public Schools (DPS) for a Title IX violation after its largest high school replaced a female bathroom with an “all-inclusive” gender restroom on the second floor.
The OCR, in a Jan. 28 letter to DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero, said East High School is being investigated for discriminating against its female students because there is an exclusive restroom for males but not females on that floor at East High School. A parent had complained about this issue during a board of education work session earlier this month.
“The administration has sacrificed the comfort of these young females for this dubious change by now limiting their option,” the letter reads, quoting a parent who spoke at the work session. “We, as adults, should be protecting students at all costs, not using minors for this social experiment. This, in my opinion, is unlawful, immoral, and is, in fact, a form of abuse.”
The letter says the district also installed multi-stall, all-gender restrooms in two other school buildings, though it did not specify if those restrooms, as in the case on the second floor of East High, replaced female restrooms while male restrooms remained intact.
OCR sent the letter just days after Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders targeting transgender ideology and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in public schools.
The letter cites Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, “which probit discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or actively operated by a recipient of federal financial assistance from the department.”
Those regulations also note that a recipient of federal funds “may provide separate toilet, locker rooms, and shower facilities on the basis of sex, but such facilities provided for students of one sex shall be comparable to such facilities provided for students of the other sex,” OCR noted in a Jan. 28 statement.
Representatives from OCR’s regional office in Denver have been directed to conduct the investigation and contact school officials within one week to arrange interviews with district personnel.
When the investigations are complete, OCR findings and recommendations for districts to correct their actions are typically posted on the U.S. Department of Education website.
“The alarming report that the Denver Public Schools District denied female students a restroom comparable with their male counterparts appears to directly violate the civil rights of the district’s female students,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in the statement.
“It is unprecedented for the Office for Civil Rights to admittedly initiate its own investigation, into a single bathroom, as a result of local media coverage rather than in response to a filed complaint requesting their involvement,” Pribble wrote. “DPS is committed to educational equity, and we will continue to honor the needs of our students.”
A Jan. 24statementon the district’s website noted that the district will defy Trump’s Defending Women executive order, which stated that only two sexes will be recognized as the policy of the United States.
“DPS remains committed to following all applicable state and federal laws, which remain in place, providing ongoing recognition of and protection from harassment and discrimination on the basis of LGBTQ+ status,” the statement said.
The OCR’s 2023 Annual Report noted that 35 percent of the 19,201 complaints filed that year pertained to disabilities, 18 percent to race and national origin, and 3 percent to age.