Colorado school district says Trump admin accused mascots of being boys on girls’ teams

This story originally appeared on Them.

The Trump administration’s war on transgender participation in school sports seems to have found an unintended target: mascots.

A Colorado school district targeted by the Department of Education for allegedly having 61 boys on the rosters of girls’ sports teams has responded that mascots, trainers, and managers account for all of those names, calling the Trump administration’s allegations “simply not true.”

In a public letter issued this month, Jeffco Public Schools — which encompasses Jefferson County, just outside of Denver city limits — detailed its yearlong history of being investigated by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which has deployed the Trump administration’s trans-exclusionary interpretation of Title IX to attack civil rights protections in schools across the country. That investigation was opened in June 2025.

In March of this year, the Education Department announced that “male students may occupy up to 61 roster positions on girls’ sports teams in the District” and concluded that Jeffco Public Schools had violated Title IX. A follow-up Education Department press release, dated June 3 of this year, hit a more conclusive note, writing that Jeffco Public Schools has “blatantly violated Title IX” with locker and restroom policies — and noting that a review of the rosters “found the District allowed male students to occupy roster sports on girls’ sports teams, displacing girls from the athletic programs designed for female students.”

This more recent release also accompanied a letter warning the school district of impending enforcement action.

In Jeffco Public Schools’ public response, published June 11, the school claimed that OCR had jumped to conclusions about the men’s names listed on the rosters they provided during the investigation. “Because the OCR never asked us to clarify the role of any individual listed on those rosters, we did not learn of this confusion until the OCR issued a press release,” the district wrote. “Since that moment, we have repeatedly and respectfully asked the OCR to address this factual error. They have declined to do so.”

The district further claims that OCR itself made the “decision to step back” from “good-faith negotiations” ahead of its June 3 warning letter. Jefferson Public Schools also clarified that it is struggling to balance the Trump administration’s “current interpretation of Title IX” — which, when it comes to trans rights, is notably opposite to how former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden viewed the civil rights legislation — with Colorado’s fairly comprehensive non-discrimination statutes, which encompass gender identity.

“This places school districts in an impossible position,” the district wrote. “We must navigate conflicting requirements with clear state law on one side and non-binding federal guidance on the other.”

Education news site Chalkbeat Colorado, which originally reported on the JeffCo Public School District response, received no comment from the Department of Education. The Education Department has since announced multiple additional investigations into alleged Title IX violations involving trans inclusion in U.S. schools, including probes into three Michigan districts.