Eight junior girls tried out for the girls' junior varsity volleyball team at Dakota Ridge High School in Jefferson County, Colorado, and were cut. Their parents say a male player made the team.
The families are now demanding answers from Jeffco Public Schools. Here is the district's answer: it doesn't keep track of which students are male.
What the parents say
Four Dakota Ridge families went public this month, Fox News reported. Parent Tanna Donalson told the Denver Gazette that her daughter and seven other girls, all juniors, were cut from the JV team in favor of several freshmen, including the male player. She asked why parents and players were never told.
One of the girls cut is a setter. Her family open-enrolled her at Dakota Ridge for its volleyball program, and she wants to play in college. She went to the program's paid summer camp and extra training. Then, shortly before tryouts, coaches moved her to right-side hitter, a position she had never played. She was cut. The coach told her in writing that she "was beat out." Her family later learned that a male player had been picked to play setter on the girls' team.
Her mother isn't claiming her daughter was owed a spot. She wants the district to open up the eligibility records, tryout evaluations and coaching messages and show what happened.
"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," another parent told Fox News.
A complaint has been filed, and the district's Title IX coordinator is investigating, a parent told Fox News. No findings have been made yet. The district says no administrator has confirmed that a boy is on the team.
What Jeffco says
Jeffco told the Denver Gazette it "does not keep a record of whether or not a student is transgender." Even if it did, the district said, federal and state privacy law would keep it from confirming or denying anything about a student.
Its answer to the families was a letter saying administrators and coaches would meet with any girl who wants more privacy in the locker room.
So the district lets boys who identify as girls onto girls' teams. It also says it can't tell anyone whether that has happened. A district that can't say who is male has no way to promise its girls a fair tryout.
The school board's vote
Jeffco's Board of Education voted unanimously to oppose Proposition 134, the measure on Colorado's Nov. 3 ballot that would keep girls' school teams female. Board member Peter Gibbins called it "sloppy policy" and said it could undermine girls' athletics.
"My concern is that for members of our public who are opposed to transgender athletes competing on sports teams — which is far more rare than people realize — if somebody were simply accused of being transgender, they would be subject to a lot of really invasive exams, which is, I think, just horrifying," Gibbins said.
Prop 134 doesn't require any exam. According to the state's official voter guide, the Blue Book, the measure "does not impose a specific method for determining or demonstrating biological sex." Each school or district sets its own way of checking.
What Prop 134 would do
Prop 134 would change Colorado state law. It wouldn't amend the constitution. In plain words, according to the Blue Book:
- Every school team must be labelled boys, girls, or coed. That goes by biological sex.
- Girls' teams are for girls only. Males can't play on them, no matter how they identify.
- Girls can still play on a boys' team if the school has no girls' team in that sport. Coed teams stay open to everyone.
- It covers every school team, from elementary school through college, in public, charter, private and religious schools. That includes intramurals and school-run after-school sports. It doesn't cover club or community leagues that are run separately from schools.
- "Female" and "male" are defined by biology. Female means a body organized around producing eggs. Male means a body organized around producing sperm.
- Every school board has to adopt a policy to follow it. If a public school district refuses, the state Commissioner of Education must step in.
- No one can punish a school for keeping girls' teams female. No state agency, accreditor or athletic association could investigate or penalize it.
A Yes vote means girls' teams across Colorado are closed to males, and Jeffco would have to follow that rule. A No vote leaves it to each district and the state athletic association. Under current state rules, that means boys who identify as girls can keep playing on girls' teams in districts like Jeffco.
The Blue Book notes two limits. The measure doesn't set one statewide method for checking sex. And it's "unclear at this time" how it will fit with Colorado's anti-discrimination law.
Jeffco didn't have to do this
Jeffco says Colorado's anti-discrimination law and the rules of the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) require its policy. But "school districts do not necessarily need to follow those guidelines," the Gazette reported.
At least seven Colorado schools and districts already keep males off girls' teams, the Blue Book says. After eight of them sued, CHSAA agreed in a December 2025 settlement that schools can keep separate teams for boys and girls without being penalized. The part of that lawsuit that challenges the state anti-discrimination law is still going.
The federal side
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 30, 2026, in West Virginia v. B.P.J., that Title IX allows schools to keep girls' teams for biological females. It also ruled that state laws doing so are constitutional. The ruling doesn't force states to do it. That decision now belongs to Colorado voters.
In March, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights found that Jeffco broke Title IX. It said the district's policies let male students into girls' bathrooms, locker rooms, overnight rooms on school trips, and girls' sports. The office said Jeffco's rosters showed males "may occupy up to 61 roster positions on girls' sports teams." Jeffco says those 61 were managers, trainers and mascots, not athletes, CPR News reported.
Jeffco hasn't agreed to the federal government's terms, saying they would force it to break state law. The Education Department has since referred the district to the Justice Department, Fox News reported. In July, Jeffco sued the Education Department to protect roughly $50 million in federal funding.
On Sept. 28, the Education Department formally threw out the Biden administration's 2024 Title IX rule and restored the 2020 rule.
The bottom line
These girls did the work. They played club ball, went to camp, put in the off-season hours and showed up to tryouts. Their parents aren't backing down, and they shouldn't have to fight their own school board for a fair shot.
Prop 134 would settle it statewide: girls' teams are for girls. Colorado votes November 3. Vote YES on 134.
---
Sources: Denver Gazette, Fox News, Colorado Legislative Council Blue Book, Proposition 134, U.S. Supreme Court, West Virginia v. B.P.J., U.S. Department of Education (March 13, 2026), U.S. Department of Education (Sept. 28, 2026), CPR News, Chalkbeat Colorado
Cover photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Mike Kaplan (public domain). The players pictured are Air Force Academy volleyball players and are not connected to this story.