The U.S. Department of Education said Tuesday it was investigating allegations that a high school teacher in the Denver school district required students of the same sex to kiss in front of a class and a district in Washington state displayed vials of testosterone in a Pride month exhibit.
The department said it will probe whether the Bethel School District, about an hour south of Seattle, and Denver Public Schools violated a federal law that gives parents the right to opt out of school evaluations on topics including sex behavior or attitudes.
“Parents must be the decision-makers in matters impacting the most intimate parts of their children’s lives,” Frank Miller, director of the Student Privacy Policy Office at the Education Department, said in a statement.
Denver schools spokesman Scott Pribble said the district was finalizing a response and did not immediately have comment. Bethel School District said in a statement that the vials in a display at Graham-Kapowsin High School in June were not authorized by school administrators and were immediately removed and turned over to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
Testosterone is prescribed for gender-affirming care. The district added that it will cooperate fully with the Education Department’s investigation.
The two districts are in states headed by Democrats. President Donald Trump is a Republican.
The Trump administration has opened dozens of investigations into schools that make accommodations for transgender and LGBTQ+ students, often taking aim at districts that allow students to use bathrooms or locker rooms that align with their gender identities. It accused Denver schools last year of violating Title IX protections against sex-based discrimination over such a bathroom policy.
Trump officials have also pushed against schools accused of keeping information about students’ gender identities confidential from their parents, which the department says is a violation of federal privacy laws.
The Education Department tied the new investigations to National Parents’ Day on Sunday. The agency said it will be announcing “significant actions” involving the enforcement of parental rights laws through the week.
The display at the high school in the Bethel district contained some vials with a “small amount of unknown liquid,” the district said in its statement. It was not clear whether the liquid was ever tested and confirmed to be testosterone.
District spokesman Doug Boyles referred comment to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office. An email to a spokeswoman for the office, Deputy Carly Cappetto, was not immediately returned.
The district said in its statement it is reviewing its protocols for overseeing displays to “ensure all school materials strictly align with our educational standards and community expectations.”
“Our primary focus remains on maintaining a safe, respectful, and focused learning environment for all of our students,” it added.
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Associated Press writer Collin Binkley in Washington D.C. contributed to this report.
