Denver Public Schools defies Trump administration deadline for removing all-gender bathrooms

Denver Citizens Schools has not complied with the Trump administration s request that the district convert all multi-stall all-gender bathrooms in its schools into separate facilities for female and male students by the agency s Monday deadline In a five-page response dated Sunday DPS general counsel Kristin Bailey accused the U S Department of Mentoring s Office of Civil Rights of intransigence a failure to adequately communicate and a startling lack of clarity surrounding the alleged Title IX violation levied against the school district We write to rebut the stated presumption that the District and the Office for Civil Rights OCR are at an impasse Bailey wrote We are not In fact as the District has shared throughout this Directed Research we want to discuss resolution options with OCR and at this stage the District remains interested in doing so Coaching Department representatives did not right now respond to a request for comment from The Denver Post on Monday On Aug the Guidance Department broadcasted that it had identified DPS discriminated against girls by creating a gender-neutral bathroom at East High School and by adopting a districtwide plan allowing students to use facilities corresponding with their gender identities DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero issued a message the following day vowing to protect Denver students and families from an administration hostile to the LGBTQ area The department s Office of Civil Rights stated DPS s all-gender restrooms violated Title IX of the Coaching Amendments of enacted to allow girls and women to participate in educational programs in school including sports without sexual harassment The office gave the district days to agree to a proposed resolution which included converting all-gender restrooms back to single-sex facilities or danger imminent enforcement action The findings come after the Schooling Department publicized in January that it was inspecting DPS over the East High s conversion of a girls restroom into a bathroom for all genders last academic year The Denver high school created the gender-neutral bathroom at the request of students who sought another facility choosing to convert a girls bathroom because it was more cost-effective district personnel revealed The all-gender bathroom has stalls that offer more privacy than other facilities with -foot walls that nearly reach the ceiling and metal blocks that prevent people from seeing through In response to the January study East High in recent days renovated a boys bathroom into a second all-gender restroom a move the district announced it made to address any disparity The district has two other all-gender facilities at the Denver School of the Arts and the Career Guidance Center Early College In the federal agency s letter alleging DPS violated Title IX the Tuition Department also mentioned the Denver district created a hostile surroundings for its students by endangering their safety privacy and dignity through its use of all-gender restrooms The Trump administration has repeatedly threatened to cut K- and higher instruction funding from schools with policies that the federal cabinet calls discriminatory particularly those that relate to gender identity the LGBTQ group and race Related Articles University of Denver ends DEI initiatives to protect funding but chancellor says school isn t kowtowing Superintendent says DPS s all-gender bathrooms don t violate Title IX vows to protect students from hostile administration Denver s East High converts boys bathroom to all-gender restroom amid Trump administration assessment Trump administration to investigate DPS for turning girls restroom into an all-gender bathroom Bailey argued in Sunday s response that the Office of Civil Rights failed to articulate what about the gender-neutral restrooms constituted a Title IX violation and what doable remedies existed despite multiple requests by the district for further discussion The accusation of a hostile ecosystem Bailey wrote was new This new and different allegation has never been discussed and raises a host of new questions in addition to those that have been unanswered throughout the process thus far Bailey wrote If OCR can provide a more precise articulation based in fact of the reasons it purports to have sufficient evidence to patronage a legal conclusion that the bathroom created a hostile habitat it may prompt an appropriate resolution to this matter The district requested to engage in a -day resolution negotiation period Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter