The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that it is investigating the Jeffco Public Schools district regarding potential Title IX violations.

The Department of Education announced the investigation to mark the 53rd anniversary of Title IX, looking into two separate schools for allegedly violating federal law protecting women’s space.

According to the news release from the Department of Education, Jeffco Public Schools is allegedly violating federal law with its policy that students will be “assigned to share overnight accommodations with other students that share a student’s ‘gender identity,'” rather than rooming by sex, breaking Title IX’s inclusion of female students’ rights to sex-segregated intimate spaces.

The department claims to have heard “several disturbing” reports, including from parents of an 11-year-old girl discovering their daughter would have had to share a bed with a male student on an overnight school trip without being notified by the school, according to the release.

“The district allegedly misleads parents by informing them that girls and boys will be separated for overnight accommodations without divulging that its definition of ‘girl’ includes boys who claim a female identity,” the release said.

The district told The Denver Gazette in response that “Jeffco Public Schools follows all Colorado state laws when it comes to how we treat students, staff and families. There is nothing in the language of Title IX that prohibits the degree of protection that the State of Colorado provides,” pointing toward Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) Rule 81.9 – Gender-Segregated Facilities.

The rule says, “All covered entities shall allow individuals the use of gender-segregated facilities that are consistent with their gender identity. Gender-segregated facilities include, but are not limited to, restrooms, locker rooms, dressing rooms and dormitories.”

The department has already alerted Superintendent Tracy Dorland of the investigation.

Dorland is facing scrutiny from the district’s teachers union regarding a lack of safety amongst students — snowballing after six sexual misconduct-related incidents and arrests happened within the district since the end of 2023. 

The Title IX investigation comes on the heels of a federal lawsuit filed by four Jeffco families in September claiming that the district’s policies were breaking the same law. 

Ultimately, the lawsuit is attempting to block the policy of assigning overnight accommodations based on gender identity rather than biological sex.

“This fundamental right is especially vital for all parents to protect their children from violations of bodily privacy in intimate settings, like sleeping arrangements or shower facilities,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Kate Anderson, the Christianity-based legal foundation representing the plaintiffs, said in a news release. “Jefferson County Public Schools claims to ‘freely grant accommodations to all,’ yet they will not offer accommodations to religious students to access educational opportunities without sacrificing their bodily privacy.”

Attorneys filed a renewed motion for preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado in February after being denied an injunction in November based on a lack of evidence that the plaintiffs faced immediate harm from the policy.

“Families always have the ultimate choice whether their student participates in any unique programming that involves overnight accommodations,” the district told The Denver Gazette Monday. “We are unwavering in our commitment to the well-being of our students, staff and families, and we strictly adhere to all Colorado state laws governing their treatment.”

Along with the investigation into Jeffco, the Department of Education will also be investigating the University of Wyoming after the university allegedly allowed a man to join a women-only campus sorority home, Kappa Kappa Gamma.