ReportWire

Tag: east high school

  • Appeal dismissed in wrongful death lawsuit related to fatal shooting outside of Denver’s East High

    [ad_1]

    Denver East High School, April 4, 2023.

    Hart Van Denburg/CPR News

    This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters

    By Melanie Asmar, Chalkbeat

    The family of a 16-year-old student who was shot and killed outside Denver’s East High School in 2023 has dropped a wrongful death lawsuit against Denver Public Schools.

    The Colorado Court of Appeals dismissed the lawsuit Friday, a court order shows. DPS and the student’s family agreed to the dismissal, according to court documents. The documents do not give a reason. Each side will pay its own legal fees, the documents say.

    An attorney for the family said he could not comment Friday. Denver Public Schools said in a statement that the district remains saddened by the death of the student, Luis Garcia.

    “We respect the judicial process and the court’s decision to dismiss the appeal, marking the conclusion of this legal matter,” the school district’s statement said.

    No one has been charged in connection with Luis’ death. The Denver Police Department said Friday that there are no updates in the case.

    In their lawsuit, Luis’ family alleged that a juvenile male, identified only by a pseudonym, shot and killed Luis. The lawsuit alleged the juvenile male stole a white Kia Sportage, ran a red light near East High, drove the Kia “on a direct path straight to Luis,” and opened fire.

    Luis was a junior at East and a talented player on the varsity soccer team when he was shot in February 2023 after dropping his cousin off at the school. Luis died of his injuries about two weeks later. His family sued DPS, East High, and the Denver school board in 2024.

    They alleged that DPS “subverted and weakened” the security at East after the school board removed armed police officers from DPS schools in 2020, which the family said allowed “potential shooters to believe they would be able to execute an attack.”

    Under a state law known as the Claire Davis School Safety Act, districts can be held liable for acts of violence at school if they fail to exercise “reasonable care” to protect students and staff.

    But in 2025, a Denver District Court judge ruled that DPS was not liable for Luis’ death because his car was parked on a public street when he was shot.

    Luis’ car was parked “where City Park Esplanade intersects East 17th Avenue, where both roads are used for the purpose of public transportation,” Judge Kandace C. Gerdes wrote. “The Court is not persuaded that these roads are ‘within the school facilities’ of East’s Property.”

    Luis’ family appealed the ruling but has now agreed to dismiss that appeal.

    DPS returned school resource officers to its schools in 2023 after Luis’ death and a separate shooting inside East High a month later. Two former East deans who were injured in that shooting are suing DPS as well. Those lawsuits are ongoing.

    Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at [email protected].

    [ad_2]

    Source link

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

    [ad_1]

    Denver Public 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 Education’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 Investigation, we want to discuss resolution options with OCR, and at this stage, the District remains interested in doing so.”

    Education Department representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Denver Post on Monday.

    On Aug. 28, the Education Department announced that it had found DPS discriminated against girls by creating a gender-neutral bathroom at East High School and by adopting a districtwide policy allowing students to use facilities corresponding with their gender identities.

    DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero issued a statement the following day, vowing to protect Denver students and families from an administration hostile to the LGBTQ community.

    The department’s Office of Civil Rights said DPS’s all-gender restrooms violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, enacted to allow girls and women to participate in educational activities in school, including sports, without sexual harassment.

    The office gave the district 10 days to agree to a proposed resolution — which included converting all-gender restrooms back to single-sex facilities — or “risk imminent enforcement action.”

    The findings come after the Education Department announced in January that it was investigating 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 wanted another facility, choosing to convert a girls bathroom because it was more cost-effective, district officials said.

    The all-gender bathroom has stalls that offer more privacy than other facilities, with 12-foot walls that nearly reach the ceiling and metal blocks that prevent people from seeing through.

    In response to the January investigation, East High recently renovated a boys bathroom into a second all-gender restroom — a move the district said it made to address any disparity. The district has two other all-gender facilities, at the Denver School of the Arts and the Career Education Center Early College.

    In the federal agency’s letter alleging DPS violated Title IX, the Education Department also said the Denver district created “a hostile environment 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-12 and higher education funding from schools with policies that the federal government calls discriminatory, particularly those that relate to gender identity, the LGBTQ community and race.

    [ad_2]

    Elizabeth Hernandez

    Source link

  • Feds say all-gender bathroom at Denver’s East High School is a Title IX violation

    [ad_1]

    Denver news

    In December, East High School converted a second-floor multi-stall restroom designated for girls into a restroom for both sexes.

    Denver’s East High School, March 11, 2023.

    Hart Van Denburg/CPR News

    The federal government found Denver Public Schools violated the Title IX civil rights law by converting a girls’ bathroom to one that is for all genders, which the federal government calls “discrimination” against female students.

    The investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights was launched in January over an “all gender” bathroom at East High School and DPS’s broader policy that allows students to use facilities that align with their gender identity rather than biological sex. It was one of the first actions of the new Trump administration directed at the school level as part of its promise to eradicate “woke” ideology.

    In a statement, acting assistant secretary for civil rights Craig Trainor said the school district’s actions have “created a hostile environment for its students by endangering their safety, privacy, and dignity while denying them access to equal educational activities and opportunities.”

    “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,” he said.

    In a statement, DPS said it has just received the findings from the Office for Civil Rights and is determining its next steps.

    Why the bathroom caught federal attention (and a second one didn’t fix it)

    In December, East High School converted a second-floor multi-stall restroom designated for girls into a restroom for all genders. The school said the change was made at the request of students and has 12-foot-tall partitions for privacy.

    “This restroom serves all students, including those who may feel uncomfortable in gender-specific facilities and aligns with our values of supporting every student,” DPS said earlier this year.

    The federal Office for Civil Rights concluded that the conversion left female students without a single-sex bathroom on that floor, while male students retained a separate, exclusive restroom. The office determined the district violated Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination by placing the burden only on females to seek an exclusive restroom elsewhere.

    Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools, states that districts “may provide separate toilet, locker room, and shower facilities on the basis of sex, but such facilities provided for students of one sex shall be comparable to such facilities provided for students of the other sex.”

    The school later converted the boys’ restroom on the same floor into an “all-gender” facility. DPS said the new restroom was meant to address any disparity.

    But the Office for Civil Rights determined that change didn’t resolve the violation. It stated that “males are still allowed to invade sensitive female-only facilities.”

    The office reported the school received several complaints from students and parents. A female 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 reported feeling “very uncomfortable” and that her “privacy and [her] rights has [sic] just been taken away” after male students began using the restroom, according to the office.

    Another complainant shared concerns about a male teacher frequently entering the space to check on things and asked that it be a female teacher, according to a statement from the office.

    The office also found the district is not in compliance with Title IX because of its online “Denver Public Schools LGBTQ+ Toolkit,” which states that “transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming students have the right to use facilities … that match their gender as consistently expressed at school.”

    The office said that violates the law because it allows males into sensitive female-only spaces (and vice versa).

    An executive order on “Gender Ideology” signed in the first week of the new administration mandates that the federal government recognize only two biological sexes: male and female. The order states that “federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology.”

    Scott Skinner-Thompson, an associate professor of law at the University of Colorado Boulder who focuses on LGBTQ issues, told Chalkbeat that the Trump administration’s argument was legally weak.

    “Title IX has never required identical facilities. It’s only ever required comparable facilities,” he said. “Creating an all-gender restroom doesn’t exclude anyone.”

    Resolution proposed:

    Under a proposed resolution agreement, the district has 10 days to voluntarily comply or face “imminent enforcement action.” The agreement would require DPS to:

    • Revert all bathrooms that were converted for all-gender use back to single-sex facilities.
    • Rescind any policies or guidance that allow students to use private spaces like restrooms based on gender identity rather than biological sex, including parts of the “Denver Public Schools LGBTQ+ Toolkit.”
    • Issue a memo to all schools that they must provide private and safe bathrooms that are equally available to male and female students.
    • Adopt biology-based definitions for “male” and “female” in all policies and practices related to Title IX.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Amid Trump administration investigation, East High converts boys’ restroom to all-gender restroom

    [ad_1]

    Denver East High School, April 4, 2023.

    Hart Van Denburg/CPR News

    This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.

    By Melanie Asmar/Chalkbeat

    Seven months after the Trump administration began investigating Denver Public Schools for converting a girls’ restroom at East High School into an all-gender one, the school started classes this week with a new addition: another all-gender restroom.

    The new all-gender restroom was formerly a boys’ restroom. DPS added it after officials with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights said in January that converting a girls’ restroom into an all-gender restroom “denied female students a restroom comparable with their male counterparts” and violated the civil rights of Denver’s female students.

    DPS said in a statement that the new restroom was meant to address any disparity.

    “The addition of a second all-gender restroom on the same floor as the first restroom was suggested and paid for by the District to help address the notion of any unfairness or lack of parity across facilities,” the statement from DPS said.

    “Students will continue to have access to gender-specific restrooms as well as existing single-stall gender-neutral bathrooms throughout the school,” the statement said.

    The district said it “remains responsive” to information requests from the Office for Civil Rights.

    A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education said the Office for Civil Rights’ investigation into DPS is ongoing. The spokesperson did not answer a question about whether the district’s conversion of a boys’ restroom into an all-gender restroom nullifies the alleged discrimination.

    The Trump administration has taken aim at policies meant to protect transgender students. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Education found that five northern Virginia school districts were violating the federal Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination, by allowing students to use restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.

    All federal funding for those districts — a total of more than $50 million — will now be distributed by reimbursement only, meaning the districts will have to pay those expenses up front.

    In a statement, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the Virginia districts were being penalized for “choosing to abide by woke gender ideology in place of federal law.”

    Nearly 7% of Denver Public Schools’ budget last year, or about $96 million, was made up of federal funding, according to district budget documents.

    The Trump administration began investigating DPS shortly after the president’s inauguration. A letter from federal officials to Superintendent Alex Marrero cited a January 9News story about East High converting a girls’ restroom into an all-gender restroom.

    At the time, DPS said it was “unprecedented” for the Office for Civil Rights to initiate an investigation based on a news story. The district defended East High’s all-gender restroom, saying it was added at the request of students and has 12-foot-tall partitions to ensure privacy.

    Kayleigh Baker, an attorney and senior consultant with TNG Consulting and an advisory board member of the Association of Title IX Administrators, said many school districts are caught between their own inclusive policies and interpretations of the law and the Trump administration’s new interpretation of Title IX. The courts may ultimately decide whose interpretation prevails.

    Baker said she doesn’t believe that simply having an all-gender restroom violates the law, but she’s not sure that converting a boys’ restroom along with a girls’ restroom would satisfy the Trump administration, which has emphasized protecting access to single-sex restrooms.

    “My concern would be taking something away, whether that’s a girls’ restroom or a boys’ and a girls’ restroom,” she said.

    But Scott Skinner-Thompson, an associate professor of law at the University of Colorado Boulder who focuses on LGBTQ issues, said he thinks converting both boys’ and girls’ restrooms into all-gender restrooms weakens the Trump administration’s discrimination claim — which he believes was legally weak to begin with.

    “Title IX has never required identical facilities. It’s only ever required comparable facilities,” he said. “Creating an all-gender restroom doesn’t exclude anyone.”

    Chalkbeat National Editor Erica Meltzer contributed to this report.

    Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at [email protected].

    Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Students’ fight-turned-shooting near Denver high school sets neighbors on edge

    Students’ fight-turned-shooting near Denver high school sets neighbors on edge

    [ad_1]

    A fistfight between two Excel Academy students escalated into a shooting this week, sending people running for cover and setting neighbors around the Denver public high school on edge.

    The fight-turned-shooting happened at around 12:15 p.m. Monday in the 3100 block of West Colorado Avenue, around the corner from Excel Academy, a pathway school that is designed to help students who are behind on credits get back on track for graduation.

    Two students and their families were involved in the fight, Principal Cynthia Navarro wrote in a letter to parents Monday.

    “At no point were our students or staff inside the building ever in danger,” she wrote.

    The shooting comes as Denver Public Schools faces increased public scrutiny over its handling of gun violence among students, particularly in the wake of last year’s shooting at East High School in which a 17-year-old student wounded two school administrators.

    People who live near Excel Academy said during a Denver Police Department neighborhood meeting Wednesday that they’ve raised concerns about the school for years — particularly around nuisance issues like students parking across driveways, littering or drag racing in the streets — and questioned whether school officials were doing enough to protect students and residents.

    On Monday, two young women met in the street to fight while a crowd of about a dozen people watched, according to video of the incident reviewed by The Denver Post. Most appeared to be high-school-aged, but there were at least two adults in the mix, said Cyan Santillana, who witnessed the fight. One of the adults was encouraging the fight, she said.

    After a couple of minutes of fighting, at least one of the people watching drew a gun and fired shots, the video shows. The crowd scattered, with people diving behind cars or into alleys for cover. A single adult man was shot in the incident and survived, Denver police said.

    No arrests had been made by Wednesday and police did not answer questions about the man’s condition or about the shooting.

    Fights in the neighborhood, which abuts Federal Boulevard, are not entirely uncommon, Santillana said, but this was the first time she could remember shots being fired.

    “It’s getting to the point where something definitely needs to be done now,” she said. “There are kids in this neighborhood, there is an elementary school right down the street, and there was this active shooting right in front of the houses.”

    She added that most of the 250 students at Excel Academy don’t cause problems, but that the small group who do “give the school a bad rap.” One student just happened to be walking by when the shooting happened and had to run for cover, Santillana said.

    The shooting took place during the school’s lunch hour, when many students were out of the building enjoying warm weather, said Scott Pribble, spokesman for Denver Public Schools. The fight prompted a 20-minute “secure perimeter” at the school, during which staff and students stayed inside and locked exterior doors, Navarro said in the letter to parents.

    [ad_2]

    Shelly Bradbury

    Source link