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Denver Public Faculties Superintendent Alex Marrero mentioned Friday that the Trump administration is pushing “an anti-trans agenda by means of the weaponization of Title IX,” a federal regulation the administration says DPS violated when it transformed a women’ restroom to an all-gender one.
“They’ve claimed Title IX prohibits the conversion of a women’ restroom to an all-gender restroom,” Marrero mentioned in an announcement. “They now declare Title IX prohibits using any multi-stall, all-gender restroom. This has by no means been true; it stays unfaithful as we speak.”
Marrero’s feedback come someday after the U.S. Division of Training’s Workplace for Civil Rights introduced that DPS’ restroom conversion at East Excessive Faculty violated Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination. Officers with the Workplace for Civil Rights mentioned that the all-gender restroom at East Excessive locations a burden on women to hunt a single-sex restroom elsewhere, and that DPS is endorsing “a self-defeating gender ideology.”
Marrero strongly disagreed.
“To our LGBTQ+ college students, households, and supporters, we see you, and we won’t stand for these makes an attempt at your erasure,” Marrero mentioned.
Nevertheless, Marrero didn’t say whether or not or not DPS will adjust to the Workplace for Civil Rights’ calls for, which embody reverting the district’s all-gender restrooms to single-sex restrooms. A DPS spokesperson mentioned, “We’re nonetheless our choices.”
The U.S. Division of Training didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Marrero’s assertion.
DPS’ federal funding may very well be in danger. The U.S. Division of Training lately sanctioned 5 Virginia faculty districts that it discovered to be violating Title IX for permitting college students to make use of restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identification. All federal funding for these districts — a complete of greater than $50 million — will now be distributed by reimbursement solely, that means the districts should pay these bills up entrance.
Practically 7% of Denver Public Faculties’ price range final 12 months, or about $96 million, was federal funding, in keeping with district price range paperwork.
The Workplace for Civil Rights on Thursday gave DPS 10 days to agree with a proposed decision.
Along with reverting all restrooms to single-sex, the proposed decision would require the district to rescind any insurance policies that permit college students to make use of restrooms primarily based on their gender identification, undertake “biology-based” definitions for “male” and “feminine,” and concern a memo to all faculties saying they “should present intimate amenities that defend the privateness, dignity, and security of its college students and are comparably accessible to every intercourse.”
In his assertion, Marrero mentioned the language proposed by the Workplace for Civil Rights is “the damaging rhetoric and definitions of their administration.”
“We’ll defend all of our college students from this hostile administration whereas we proceed to lift the bar on achievement,” Marrero mentioned.
The investigation into the all-gender restroom at East Excessive was the primary Title IX investigation launched by the Workplace for Civil Rights in Trump’s second time period. Utilizing a disputed interpretation of the regulation, his administration has used Title IX to problem transgender rights insurance policies in faculties.
A January letter from federal officers to Marrero cited a 9News story about East Excessive changing a women’ restroom into an all-gender restroom. On the time, DPS mentioned it was “unprecedented” to provoke an investigation primarily based on a information story. The district mentioned East Excessive’s all-gender restroom was added on the request of scholars and has 12-foot-tall partitions to make sure privateness.
This month, East Excessive opened a second all-gender restroom, Chalkbeat reported. The second was previously a boys’ restroom, and DPS mentioned it added it in an try to handle any disparity. However the Workplace for Civil Rights mentioned on Thursday that the second conversion didn’t repair the state of affairs “as a result of males are nonetheless allowed to invade delicate female-only amenities.”
Marrero mentioned that reasoning is a shift within the Trump administration’s authorized principle. He additionally criticized the investigation itself.
“Whereas they label this a ‘directed investigation,’ make no mistake: there was no on-site evaluation, not a single witness interview was ever carried out, and never one substantive dialog with any OCR lawyer ever occurred,” Marrero mentioned.
“The district’s requests for dialog, clarification, mediation, and dialogue of cures all went unanswered,” he mentioned. “That is unprecedented conduct from an OCR we not acknowledge.”
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
