DENVER — Denver Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero vowed Friday to protect students from a “hostile administration” as he rebuked the U.S. Department of Education’s findings that all-gender restrooms created at East High School earlier this year discriminated against girls.
In response to the findings released Thursday by the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Marrero struck a defiant tone, accusing the federal government of pushing an “anti-trans agenda through the weaponization of Title IX.”
The office concluded last week that DPS violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 by creating gender-neutral restrooms and adopting a district-wide policy that allows students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
In a letter addressed to DPS staff, Marrero appeared to suggest the Office for Civil Rights was shifting the goalposts of its investigation by first claiming that DPS was violating federal law by converting a girl's restroom to an all-gender bathroom and later claiming Title IX prohibits the use of any multi-stall, all-gender restroom.
“This has never been true; it remains untrue today,” Marrero wrote. “While OCR’s letter of findings declares that DPS violated Title IX, they cite no binding authority that would make multi-stall all-gender restrooms unlawful.”
Marrero chided the way the department handled the investigation, saying officials from the federal government office never visited East High nor interviewed any witnesses in their probe. In a statement Thursday, the Office for Civil Rights only said the school “received several complaints” about the restrooms from some students and parents at the school.
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The superintendent further claimed the district’s requests for conversation, clarification, mediation, and discussion of remedies all went unanswered by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights — what he called "unprecedented behavior from [a federal government office] we no longer recognize."
The Department of Education gave DPS 10 days to agree to a proposed resolution to remedy its claims — convert all-gender restrooms back to multi-stall, single-sex facilities and adopt “biology-based definitions for the words ‘male’ and ‘female’” across the district — or risk “imminent enforcement action.”
In his statement Friday, Marrero did not say outright whether DPS would comply with those directives, instead vowing to protect the district's LGBTQ+ student body.
"To our LGBTQ+ students, families, and supporters, we see you, and we will not stand for these attempts at your erasure," Marrero said. "We will protect all of our students from this hostile administration while we continue to raise the bar on achievement."
A spokesman for the district told Denver7 they had just received the findings from the Office for Civil Rights and were “determining our next steps.”
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Earlier this year, East High School officials said in a post on the school’s website that the all-gender bathroom that sparked the federal investigation was designed “for privacy, with 12-foot-tall partitions to ensure comfort and security.”
In the wake of the investigation — which began soon after President Trump took office a second time — district officials told Denver7 that the bathroom was a result of a "student-led process that reflects our commitment to inclusivity and student voice, leadership, and empowerment, providing a welcoming space for all."
This isn’t the first time Marrero has gone head-to-head with the Trump administration.
Earlier this year, DPS sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in an effort to block federal immigration agents from making arrests at “sensitive locations” such as schools, churches, and hospitals, arguing the president’s plans to ramp up mass deportations was impact school attendance across the district.
A federal judge ruled against the district and DPS dropped its lawsuit, but not before district officials said they would not hesitate to refile it should circumstances change.
“Students cannot learn unless they feel safe and welcome in our schools,” a DPS spokesperson said. “We owe that to them.”
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