Colorado high school volleyball player cut after male athlete makes the team, mother says

A Colorado mother is speaking out after her daughter, a dedicated high school volleyball player, was cut from the Dakota Ridge High School team in the Jeffco Public Schools district, while one of the athletes who secured a junior varsity roster spot was a male who identifies as “transgender.” 

The mother, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Zeale News that her daughter, a junior and a setter, had spent two years in the school’s program while also playing club volleyball. The family had chosen Dakota Ridge because of its volleyball opportunities after meeting with the head coach before her daughter entered high school. 

“We met him and trusted him, and the program that far had had a good reputation,” she said. 

Over the summer, coaches invited her daughter to a paid camp at Colorado Christian University and additional training with the school’s program, according to the mother. Before tryouts, however, the coach directed her to compete as a right-side hitter rather than at her usual setter position.

After tryouts, four coaches met with her daughter in a room and told her there was no spot for her, according to the mother’s account.

Lindsay Datko, founder and executive director of the local parent advocacy organization Jeffco Kids First, shared the mother’s account on X, including the coach’s written explanation: “She competed for a spot, other athletes ultimately demonstrated more consistency in the areas needed, and she was beat out.”

The mother later learned that a male freshman who also plays setter had made the team. 

The mother filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights Oct. 7, questioning whether the male student’s inclusion and her daughter’s position change were connected. In the complaint, which she provided to Zeale News, she acknowledged that the available information does not establish who displaced her daughter or why coaches changed her position.

“This isn’t about believing every girl should make a team. This isn’t about saying my daughter was entitled to a roster spot simply because she worked hard,” the mother wrote in the account Datko shared on social media. “Competitive sports involve difficult decisions. Coaches have to make cuts.”

“But if girls’ sports are supposed to provide girls with athletic opportunities, parents have every right to ask what happens when a male athlete is given one of those opportunities instead,” she added.

Jeffco Kids First, which has pressed the district on Title IX concerns and its handling of alleged staff-on-student sexual misconduct, told Zeale News that it has supported “numerous families across the Dakota Ridge girls’ volleyball teams as they navigate the heartbreak and discomfort their female athletes are experiencing on the court and in the locker room.”

“Our female athletes deserve support, full opportunity on the court, privacy, and a voice — not retaliation,” the organization added.

A parent of another Dakota Ridge volleyball player expressed frustration in a statement to Zeale News, saying seven junior girls had been cut from the JV team. 

“These girls worked hard, dedicated their time, and put themselves through the tryout process with the expectation that the selection process would be fair and that the same standards would apply to every girl athlete,” the mother, who requested anonymity, said.

She called for an investigation into the player’s eligibility and disciplinary action if investigators found a violation.

“If it is determined that an ineligible player was permitted to participate, I believe there must be meaningful accountability,” she said. “The program should be disqualified for the 26-27 season, and all the coaches and Athletic Director should be subject to dismissal or other appropriate disciplinary action based on the findings of a thorough investigation.”

“As parents, we deserve transparency about how this decision was made, what policies were followed, and what steps Jeffco Public Schools will take to ensure that every student-athlete is treated fairly and that eligibility and roster standards are followed,” she added.

Locker room privacy concerns

After girls expressed discomfort with sharing a locker room with a male athlete, according to parents who spoke with Zeale News, school officials sent an Oct. 7 letter to Dakota Ridge volleyball families acknowledging concerns about participation in girls’ athletics and privacy in shared spaces. 

“This is a new and evolving situation for our school community,” officials wrote in the letter, which Datko shared on X.

They said school leaders would work with students and families to identify privacy accommodations for individual students who have concerns. 

The first parent quoted in this report described a subsequent Oct. 9 meeting that the district’s general counsel and Title IX coordinator led. She said officials initially invited only the students, and parents attended after objecting to their exclusion.

According to her account, athletes submitted questions anonymously on index cards, but officials did not answer those questions and instead emphasized that students uncomfortable with locker room arrangements could request separate accommodations.

“They’re not going to fix the situation,” she told Zeale News. “If a girl is uncomfortable with a male in the locker room watching them undress, they have to be the one to say something to the coaches and get a different accommodation and single themselves out. That is the only thing that came out of that meeting.”

District responds to allegations

In response to questions from Zeale News about the allegations, Jeffco Public Schools declined to confirm, deny, or discuss any individual student’s gender “identity,” records, or athletic participation, citing federal and state student privacy protections. 

The district said its athletic programs operate under Colorado High School Activities Association bylaws and the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. 

“Jeffco Public Schools is committed to providing a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment for all students,” the district said. “Our policies ensure that every student, regardless of gender identity or expression, has equal access to educational programs, facilities, and district-sanctioned activities.”

“Any student or family concern that has been brought to school leadership is being addressed,” the district added. “All students may request and have accommodations in the locker room.”

Federal scrutiny of Jeffco policies

The allegations come amid a broader dispute between Jeffco Public Schools and the federal government over their district policies allowing students to participate in sports and use facilities based on “gender identity.”

The department announced June 26 that it had issued a letter of impending enforcement action after concluding that the policies violated Title IX, threatening the district’s federal funding. Jeffco filed a lawsuit July 28 challenging the threatened cuts and argued that federal officials demanded changes that would conflict with Colorado’s nondiscrimination requirements. 

>> Colorado parents, students denounce ‘transgender’ sports policy <<

Separately, the department’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into Jeffco’s handling of staff-on-student sexual misconduct allegations Oct. 6.

Colorado voters weigh measure to protect girls’ sports

The controversy comes as Colorado voters prepare to decide on Proposition 134 on Nov. 3, which would require K-12 and collegiate athletic teams to designate single-sex sports categories, preventing men from competing on women’s teams. 

Protect Kids Colorado is promoting the proposal alongside two other measures it says would protect children: Proposition 133, which would establish life imprisonment without parole for child sex trafficking; and Proposition 135, which would prohibit “sex-change” surgeries for minors.

The dispute has also drawn attention on social media. Paula Scanlan, a former University of Pennsylvania swimmer who publicly opposed sharing a team and locker room with a male swimmer, encouraged Dakota Ridge’s volleyball players to voice their concerns in a video message Datko shared on X.

“This change in getting men out of women’s sports — unfortunately, the burden of it does fall on us girls who are experiencing it, but there really is strength in numbers,” Scanlan said.

“It’s not bigoted and hateful to say men and women are different,” she added, “and you are not the problem if you think you deserve your own volleyball team free from a man or competing against a man.”