The Trump administration’s education department on Thursday concluded that Denver Public Schools violated a federal civil rights law by converting a girls’ restroom at its flagship high school campus into an “all-gender” facility.

That bathroom’s conversion, along with permitting students at East High School to use facilities on the basis of “gender identity,” rather than their biological sex, violated Title IX’s prohibition against sex discrimination, the U.S. Department of Education alleged. 

“As a result, the district is creating a hostile environment for its students by endangering their safety, privacy, and dignity while denying them access to equal educational activities and opportunities,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement.

Trainor added: “Denver is free to endorse a self-defeating gender ideology, but it is not free to accept federal taxpayer funds and harm its students in violation of Title IX.”

DPS officials said they just received the findings from the education department’s Office for Civil Rights and are determining the district’s next steps.

The civil rights office proposed a resolution to Denver Public Schools and gave the district two choices: agree to making several changes or “risk imminent enforcement action.” The office told the district it has 10 days to give a response.

The “resolution” requires the school district to convert and re-designate all stalls for use by both sexes back to sex-designated restrooms; rescind its policies or guidance allowing students to access restrooms based on “gender identity” and not biological sex; and adopt “biology-based” definitions for the words “male” and “female” in all policies and practices related to Title IX.

The federal office said the district should also reiterate that schools must provide intimate facilities that protect the privacy, dignity and safety of students that are “comparably accessible to each sex, and that Title IX compliance ensures female students may not be discriminated against in any education program or activity.”

The civil rights office said DPS violated the law by placing the burden only on females to “seek an exclusive restroom elsewhere, thereby denying their right to equal educational facilities and opportunities.”

“The district sought to rectify its different treatment of female students by converting the boys’ restroom on the second floor into an ‘all gender’ restroom, but this does not remedy its violation of Title IX because males are still allowed to invade sensitive female-only facilities,” the federal office said. 

The office said its investigation showed the district received several complaints, including from a female student. That student reported that when her friend used the restroom, “boys kept staring at her, looking her up and down, kind of taunting her.” The student also said she was “very uncomfortable” with boys “being together in the same bathroom as (girls),” the office quoted the student as saying.

The office also cited another complainant, who said “the female students are very uncomfortable with a male teacher going in frequently (to the restroom) to check on things … it should be a female teacher.”

While the district maintained it does not have a policy regarding the assignment of restrooms based on sex, the civil rights office said the Denver Public Schools “LGBTQ+ Toolkit” said “transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming students have the right to use facilities … that match their gender as consistently expressed at school.”

A few months ago, a spokesperson for Denver Public Schools defended the restroom as “(aligning) with our values of supporting every student.”

The January decision to investigate the district had signaled a shift at the federal education department under President Donald Trump, who has promised to stamp out “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs across the country. 

The federal office earlier said the CEC Early College and Denver School of the Arts also installed multi-stall, “gender-neutral” bathrooms.

At the time, Scott Pribble, the Denver district’s spokesperson, said the “all-gender” bathroom was added as the “result of a student-led process that reflects our commitment to inclusivity and student voice, leadership, and empowerment, providing a welcoming space for all.”

The restroom’s lavatory stalls were designed for privacy, separated by 12-foot-tall partitions, Pribble said, adding that ensures the “comfort and security of all students who elect to use them.”

“This restroom serves all students, including those who may feel uncomfortable in gender-specific facilities and aligns with our values of supporting every student. The faculty of East High School has developed a plan to supervise and monitor this lavatory, just as they do with all others,” he said. “Currently, East High School has designated restrooms for male and female students in addition to the all gender lavatory.”

When asked earlier why the district converted a female restroom into an all-gender restroom over a men’s room, Pribble said it’s more convenient to do so. 

“It’s easier to convert a girl’s restroom to a gender-neutral restroom simply because of the type of hardware that is in place already in that room,” Pribble told 9NEWS. “The girl’s restroom has toilets that can be accessed by everybody whereas a boy’s has different type of toilets that may be specific to specific genders and kind of changes the gender-neutral piece of it.”

The Denver Gazette news partner, 9NEWS, contributed to this report. For more on this and other stories visit our partners at 9News.com.