Trump education department investigates Cherry Creek district over alleged racial discrimination

“Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox. The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights announced Monday that it is investigating the Cherry Creek district over allegations that the district considers race in a variety of programs in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In a press release announcing the investigation, the department alleged that the district sponsors clubs that exclude students based on race and that the district requires teachers to consider race when assigning students to classes or deciding what level of academic support to provide. The release gave no examples of student clubs that exclude members based on race or of incidents where teachers used race in making class assignments or academic support decisions. The investigation into Cherry Creek, a 52,000-student district in the Denver suburbs, is part of a broader Trump administration effort to root out policies that support students of color or LGBTQ students. Many of these investigations have focused on school districts in blue cities, including New York City , Los Angeles and Chicago . Over the past 18 months, the administration also investigated the Denver district for converting a girls restroom into an all-gender restroom and the Jeffco district for policies on sleeping arrangements for transgender students on overnight field trips. A Cherry Creek district spokesperson said by email Monday, “We strongly disagree with the characterization of District programming. The District has not yet received a copy of the complaint. Without the complaint, we are not in a position to respond further.” When asked for more information about the complaints that prompted the investigation, U.S. Department of Education officials said they don’t comment on open investigations. But Kimberly Richey, assistant secretary for education, did comment in the press release. “Federal law prohibits racial discrimination, which means that race cannot be a factor in how the school educates its students or trains its teachers. Despite this, the District seems to be basing decisions about how to support students, teachers and parents solely on race,” she said. In addition to alleging race-based discrimination in student clubs and class assignments, the Office of Civil Rights press release said the department is also investigating a district committee and a multi-day training for educators. The district’s Voices of Color Committee “reportedly grants preferential access and participation based solely on race,” the release said. The district’s website describes the committee’s goal as fostering an “inclusive and safe environment to support the success of students of color.“ It says the committee is composed of parents, district staff, and community members and links to a registration form for people who want to join the committee’s contact list. The form doesn’t ask for the potential participant’s race or ethnicity. About 56% of Cherry Creek students are students of color. The press release said the district promotes a training called “Transformational Equity Experience: To Be Seen. To Belong. To Be Whole,” which teaches that the United States was founded on “white supremacy” and categorizes individuals as “oppressors” and “oppressed.” A webpage from a 2024 Cherry Creek conference with that name features a list of sessions offered over four days, including “School Leadership — Approaching All Systems with Equity,” “All Are Welcome: Creating LGBTQ+ Affirming Spaces in our Schools,” and “What Happened to Denver’s Chinatown & How to Incorporate Local History to Teach ‘Ethnic Studies’ in the Classroom.” The three emcees of the event were a current Cherry Creek student and two recent graduates. Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org .

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