Jeffco Public Schools has asked the U.S. Department of Education for more clarity after the department said the district violated Title IX.

The district sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights on Sunday, requesting “clarification on several findings that appear to contradict the data we originally provided — discrepancies that directly impact two of the OCR’s three proposed actions,” the district told The Denver Gazette Tuesday.

The letter came 30 days after the department concluded that the district violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 after “allowing male students to access female bathrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations, and to compete in female sports.”

OCR began investigating the district over nine months ago after the department said it heard “several disturbing” reports, including from parents of an 11-year-old girl who said they discovered their daughter would have had to share a bed with a transgender girl on an overnight school trip without being notified by the school.

Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said the district denied “fairness and equality to female students by allowing males into their private facilities, overnight accommodations and athletics. The District’s decision to prioritize ‘gender identity’ over ensuring equal access for its female students is unconscionable.”

Other claims included the district having 61 male students on girls’ sports teams.

The district contested that information in the April 12 letter.

“That calculation does not match up with the data we shared, or with the totals in OCR’s modified version of the chart we provided,” the district said.

The other discrepancy, according to Jeffco, is the citing of a May 2025 lawsuit between the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) and multiple districts, including District 49 near Colorado Springs.

The lawsuit regarded the CHSAA’s bylaws that protect transgender players’ right to participate in sports without facing discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity under the Title IX Education Amendment. 

District 49 passed a policy against transgender athletes and fought against CHSAA to prevent any sanctions.

Ultimately, a settlement was agreed upon that allowed the districts to maintain separate sports teams, locker rooms and overnight travel accommodations based on biological sex while remaining in good standing with CHSAA. In exchange, the districts agreed to pay CHSAA $60,000 to cover its legal and operational costs.

In the 31-page letter of findings by the OCR regarding Jeffco, the OCR cited the agreement to say the district did not need to abide by CHSAA’s bylaws. But, Jeffco said, it was not a part of the settlement and, therefore, is not a part of those specific allowances.

The district also argued that the OCR’s “letter of findings does not align with our understanding of that case, or its limited resolution.”

Also, OCR started investigating the district five months before the settlement occurred, according to Jeffco’s letter.

The district asked for more information regarding the listed findings in order to formulate a response.

“While these discussions continue, Jeffco remains in full compliance with the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA), maintaining practices consistent with school districts across the state,” the district said.