By Eric Young | The Gazette
Another prominent school district and a prominent charter school in El Paso County are taking on the state over a newly adopted athletics policy.
Academy D-20’s Board of Education voted unanimously to adopt a resolution to direct the district to draft and implement a policy classifying access to locker rooms, restrooms and athletic participation as being based on biological sex during a special meeting June 17.
Two days later, the board voted to authorize D-20 to join a lawsuit filed by neighboring D-49 against Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, the Colorado Civil Rights Division and the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) last month.
The board of directors for The Classical Academy, a charter school authorized by D-20, voted to join the same lawsuit during a special meeting June 25.
The lawsuit aims to challenge the constitutionality of state laws and athletic association rules regarding student participation based on gender identity rather than biological sex.
CHSSA’s equity code “recognizes the right of transgender student-athletes to participate in interscholastic activities free from unlawful discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identification,” while C.R.S. 24-34-601 prohibits educational institutions from denying someone “goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations” because of their sex, gender identity or gender expression.
D-49’s lawsuit argues that these state-level requirements undermine protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and Title IX.
The resolution also references President Donald Trump’s executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which mandates that athletic programs and facilities be limited to individuals based on their biological sex.
Academy District 20 and Colorado Springs D-11 have now both approved sports participation policies and will join the lawsuit as co-plaintiffs.
“The resolution provides direction for how the district will implement practices related to those priorities,” D-20 Board President Amy Shandy said in a statement.
“We are proudly joining this lawsuit so that we can continue to make decisions that are both legally sound and in the best interest of our students and community.”
Supporters of the policies and litigation have stated that they are ensuring that privacy, safety and competitive fairness are all preserved for biologically female student athletes, while opponents have expressed concerns that these actions indirectly target and discriminate against transgender students.
The developments in D-20 are the latest in a flurry of actions by schools and districts in the Pikes Peak region on this matter. Prior to filing the lawsuit, board members from the three school districts, along with additional board members and administrators from other school districts and charter schools, individually signed a letter to CHSAA leaders urging them to update their bylaws.
Additional districts represented in the letter include Widefield D-3, Pueblo D-60, Pueblo County D-70 and Woodland Park RE-2. Woodland Park’s board of education passed a resolution “recognizing only two sexes and rejecting gender ideology” in January.
Yet neither its board nor any of the other districts featured in the letter have discussed joining the lawsuit at recent meetings.
Among the El Paso County charter schools to have representatives sign the letter include the Classical Academy, Liberty Tree Academy, Monument Academy, James Irwin Charter Schools, Colorado Springs Charter Academy and New Summit Charter Academy.
Recent actions from the charters’ boards have included a discussion on this topic by the Colorado Springs Charter Academy’s board during a March meeting, James Irwin Charters voting to pass their own policy and a resolution “recognizing only two sexes and rejecting gender ideology” in Monument Academy in February. Monument Academy had previously passed resolutions regarding biological sex distinctions in 2023 and 2024.
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