The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights will open an investigation into Denver Public Schools for “discriminating against its female students” by creating an all-gender bathroom at East High School, the agency announced Tuesday.
East High, the city’s largest high school, converted a girls restroom into a bathroom for all genders. As a result, the school has a bathroom for boys on the second floor but not for girls, according to a news release from the Education Department.
“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 a statement.
“Let me be clear: It is a new day in America, and under President Trump, OCR will not tolerate discrimination of any kind. I have directed OCR’s Denver regional office to investigate this matter fully.”
It appears the investigation into DPS will be broader than just looking at the bathroom at East High; Trainor wrote in a letter to Superintendent Alex Marrero that the Office for Civil Rights is also aware that DPS has installed all-gender restrooms in two other schools, the Denver School of the Arts and CEC Early College.
“OCR’s directed investigation will examine whether the district discriminates against students on the basis of sex by installing multi-stall all-gender restrooms in district school facilities, in violation of Title IX and its implementing regulations,” Trainor wrote.
The letter also noted that a parent criticized the all-gender bathroom at East High during a meeting of the Board of Education earlier this month.
DPS spokesman Scott Pribble didn’t immediately comment on the announcement of a federal investigation into the district.
Under Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972, organizations that receive federal funds may provide separate toilet and locker rooms based on sex, but such facilities for one sex must be comparable to facilities provided for students of the other sex.
The investigation was announced a day after the Trump administration announced a freeze on federal spending as part of an effort to review programs “supporting activities consistent with the President’s policies and requirements.” The budget memo attacked what it called “transgenderism” as a “waste of taxpayer dollars.”
DPS, the state’s largest district, expects to receive $96 million in federal grant funding during the 2024-25 academic year. If that money ends, then it will affect the district’s Head Start program as well as federal meal reimbursements DPS receives for students living in poverty as soon as next academic year, Pribble said.
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