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 an LGBTQ Pride Month exhibit.
The probes will determine 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, the department said.
“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 in a statement the district put the teacher on administrative leave and completed an investigation after students raised concerns in March 2025. The statement did not specify what prompted students’ concerns.
The Board of Education fired the teacher in May, he said.
