The Trump administration’s Education Department has launched formal investigations into two school districts over concerning incidents involving students and materials officials said violated federal parental rights laws. The investigations target Bethel School District in Washington state and Denver Public Schools in Colorado, with the Education Department announcing the probes following what it described as reports of inappropriate conduct.
In Washington, the Education Department’s Student Privacy Policy Office is investigating Bethel School District after vials of testosterone, a controlled substance, appeared in a Pride Month display at Graham-Kapowsin High School in June. According to the federal investigators, the display exposed students to the controlled substance without adequate safeguards. Local police removed the display due to health and safety concerns about the medication being left unattended near students. The federal investigation will examine whether school district employees encouraged students to undergo medical procedures without parental consent.
The Bethel School District later stated that the inclusion of the vials was entirely unauthorized and did not receive approval from school leadership. District administrators removed the items and identified the individuals responsible for adding them.
In Colorado, the Education Department is investigating Denver Public Schools over allegations involving a classroom assignment where students were allegedly required to participate in skits with same-sex kissing scenes. The investigation focuses on whether the district properly responded to the incident in compliance with Title IX, the federal civil rights law.
The Denver Public Schools incident involved French teacher Jennifer Honka at Northeast Early College. A district investigation and an independent review found that students were allegedly pressured to kiss classmates during classroom skits that counted toward their grades. Investigators determined that students selected for the kissing scenes were consistently members of the same sex. The Denver Public Schools Board voted unanimously in May to terminate Honka’s employment, citing “incompetence and neglect of duty.”
According to an independent review, Honka ran bi-weekly skits as graded assignments in her French Language and Culture class, with titles including “The Neighbors Saw Everything” and “The Boring Kiss,” the latter featuring three kissing scenes. Students reported feeling pressured and uncomfortable with the assignments. Honka had enforced a classroom rule stating “the answer is always yes,” which investigators found was used to encourage participation in the skits.
The judge conducting the independent review found that while role-playing exercises can be effective teaching tools, the way Honka implemented her assignments was “irresponsible and inappropriate.” The judge determined that even though Honka did not literally force students to kiss, her script selections placed students in an uncomfortable position where they had to publicly express their personal preferences about an intimate activity in front of peers while under their teacher’s authority. Some students testified they felt pressured because these performances directly impacted their grades.
One student who refused to participate in the kissing skits received a zero on that assignment. Students also reported that Honka offered alternatives like pretending to kiss or giving a fist bump, though investigators concluded the classroom environment and the rule about always saying yes created pressure to physically participate.
Beyond the kissing skits, the investigation uncovered additional concerns about Honka’s conduct in the classroom. She allegedly shared what the reviewing judge described as “sensitive and potentially traumatizing information” with students, discussed her own mental health struggles with her class, and confronted and berated other staff members in front of students on multiple occasions.
Denver police investigated the initial complaints about the kissing assignment but determined no crime had occurred. The principal at Northeast Early College filed the initial report with police as a mandatory child protection reporter after a third student came forward with complaints. No criminal charges resulted from the investigation.
The Education Department’s investigations represent part of a broader Trump administration effort targeting school policies related to gender and sexuality. The federal investigators plan to examine whether Bethel School District allowed parents to view instructional materials upon request and whether parents were given opportunities to opt their children out of surveys or other evaluations requiring parental consent under the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment.
Officials at the Education Department said both investigations raise serious questions about whether parents’ fundamental rights are being respected and whether school personnel are making decisions about sensitive matters affecting children without proper parental involvement. The investigations could result in federal funding being withheld from the schools.