Player of the Year

Cooper Vais, Jr. RHP/SS, Arvada West

The Texas commit was an unstoppable force for the Class 5A runner-ups, batting .458 with seven homers plus a 0.62 ERA and 113 Ks on the mound.

Coach of the Year

Matt Eades, Pueblo County

In his ninth season, the 2005 Pueblo County graduate guided the Hornets to their first crown with a 4-0 mark the Class 4A state tournament.

Pitchers

Blake Swift, Sr. RHP, Pueblo County

The CHSAA Class 4A Player of the Year and Otero College commit put the Hornets on his back en route to the title with a 1.51 ERA in 15 games.

Hudson Alpert, Sr. RHP, Regis Jesuit

After returning at midseason from elbow surgery, the Vanderbilt commit had a 1.91 ERA in seven games, and also hit .449 for the Class 5A champs.

Ethan Wachsmann, Sr. RHP, Grandview

The Wake Forest commit touched 100 mph this season as opponents hit .159 vs him; threw a no-hitter, and had a 2.10 ERA in 9 games with 66 Ks.

Hunter Vitello, Jr. RHP, Denver South

The DPS standout threw a no-hitter against Ralston Valley in the Class 5A regional opener. He logged 101 strikeouts and just 15 walks, with a 2.17 ERA.

Gunnar Garrison, Sr. RHP, Eaton

The Arizona State commit with a mid-90s heater was a centerpiece of Eaton’s Class 3A Final 4 team, with a 1.62 ERA in 11 games with 116 strikeouts.

Jake Watts, Jr. RHP, Ralston Valley

The Mustangs’ ace and Evansville pledge posted a 2.50 ERA in 8 games, with 70 strikeouts while limiting hitters to a paltry .146 average.

Colten Smith, Jr. RHP, Legend

The BYU commit with a low-90s fastball was critical in Legend’s Class 5A Final 4 run, posting a 3.00 ERA in 10 games and rising up down the stretch.

Mikey Kroll, Jr. RHP, Regis Jesuit

A one-two punch in the Raiders’ rotation behind Alpert, Kroll threw four shutout innings in the Class 5A title game and had a 2.73 ERA in 8 games.

Josh Weaver, Sr. RHP, Fruita Monument

In addition to being a force in the lineup, the Wildcats’ ace and Cowley commit had a 1.52 ERA in 11 games, including 92 Ks to just 11 walks.

Sawyer Tipton, Sr. RHP, Mountain Vista

With a 1.84 ERA in 12 games, Tipton was the Golden Eagles’ unquestionable ace, and the Lehigh commit also racked up 79 strikeouts to 23 walks.

Max Goldberg, Sr. LHP, Cherry Creek

The Boston College commit dominated this spring, with a 1.79 ERA in 10 games, 73 Ks to 21 walks, and held opponents to a .195 average.

Catchers

Cole Teltschik, Sr., Discovery Canyon

The Thunder’s powerful backstop and Missouri State commit led all classifications with 13 homers while hitting .593 with a ridiculous 2.096 OPS.

Brayden Reiner, Sr., Arvada West

A two-way senior pillar for the Class 5A runner-ups, the Newman University commit had a .410 on-base percentage; also was 11-0 with a 0.92 ERA.

Peter Worth, Sr., Northfield

The Washington University in St. Louis commit dominated with a .492 average, 26 RBIs and a 1.428 OPS in a spring that featured a natural cycle.

Walker Blanchard, Sr., Elizabeth

The Scottsdale Community College commit helped the Cardinals to the Class 3A state tournament, hitting .403 with a .494 on-base percentage.

Infielders

Damian Alvarez, Sr. SS, University

CHSAA’s Class 3A Player of the Year and centerpiece of UHS’s title team hit .546 with 26 extra-base hits; McLennan Community College commit.

Luc Gaca Thiele, Sr. 3B, Fossil Ridge

The Columbia commit batted .479 with a .585 on-base percentage and 33 RBIs as part of a dynamic infield duo alongside junior Brady Bradford.

Bret Baldwin, Jr. SS, Ralston Valley

The Washington commit hit .429 with a team-high seven homers while showcasing range, athleticism and arm strength from the middle infield.

Deion Cesario-Scott, Sr. 1B, Regis Jesuit

The Alabama A&M commit was a feared power presence in the Raiders’ lineup, batting .427 with seven homers, a .780 slugging and 1.344 OPS.

Cory Dean Carver, Sr. SS, Montezuma-Cortez

The Navy commit showcased speed, power and a high-contact approach, with a .580 average, seven homers, 21 steals and a .649 on-base percentage.

Matt Hegerle, Sr. SS, Bear Creek

The athletic UC Davis commit was the heartbeat of Bear Creek; he batted .477 with a .575 on-base percentage, 26 steals and a 1.267 OPS.

Chase Massey, Sr. SS, Regis Jesuit

The Continental League Player of the Year and Boston College commit led the Raiders with nine homers; hit .404 with an .830 slugging, 1.317 OPS.

Hunter Howard, Sr. SS, Palisade

The Glendale Community College commit hit .463 with six homers, 30 RBIs and only six Ks; also dominated on the mound with a 1.22 ERA.

Nick Hernandez, Sr. 2B, Pueblo County

The Hornets’ intelligent, dynamic leadoff hitter was the highlight of a deep lineup, hitting .435 with a .547 on-base percentage and 1.123 OPS.

Bryce Jackson, Sr. 1B, Broomfield

The Fort Hayes State commit was a force to be reckoned with in the box, with a team-high .480 average, .570 on-base percentage and six homers.

Outfielders

Zach Mediavilla, Sr., The Classical Academy

TCA’s do-everything speedy superstar batted .527 with seven triples, 25 RBIs, 31 steals and broke the school record for hits in season with 49.

Jackson Crawford, Jr., Mountain Vista

The Golden Eagles’ preeminent power hitter and USC commit blasted seven homers with a .349 average, .476 on-base percentage and a 1.211 OPS.

Dylan Paulson, Jr., Golden

The Demons’ top hitter batted .548 to lead Golden to its sixth straight Class 4A/3A Jeffco League title; had eight homers, 42 RBIs and a .946 slugging.

Silas Meuli, Sr., Legend

The Chandler Gilbert Community College commit was an offensive pillar for the Titans, batting .392 with four homers and a .568 on-base percentage.

Tanner Craytor, Sr., Fairview

The Knights’ slugger and Wofford commit led Class 5A with 11 homers to help Fairview to the Class 5A state tournament; batted .469, 1.660 OPS.

Baylor Schultz, Sr., Ponderosa

Schultz was key to a youth-laden Mustangs team that made the Class 4A Final 4, batting .393 and posting a 1.30 ERA in 12 games.

Tyce Smith, Sr., Cherry Creek

A multi-year cog in the middle of the Cherry Creek lineup, Smith led the Bruins with a .468 average, .602 on-base percentage and 1.279 OPS.

Jacob Olson, Sr., Regis Jesuit

The Oregon commit consistently flashed leather in center field for the Class 5A champs while hitting .388 with six homers, four triples and a .728 slugging.

Beau Friesen, Sr., Arvada West

A breakout star for the Wildcats en route to the Class 5A state title game, the San Diego pledge hit .438 with 44 RBIs and also blasted nine homers.

Utility

Maddox Burnett, Sr. RHP/UTL, Erie

A BYU commit who could hear his name called in the upcoming MLB Draft, Burnett hit .551 and also posted a 1.77 ERA with 105 Ks in 11 games.

Dane Dial, Soph. 3B/RHP, Pine Creek

Dial was key in Pine Creek’s Class 5A Final Four run, batting .400 with a .504 on-base percentage and seven homers; also had a 1.77 ERA in 12 games.

Aaron Jaquez, Sr. RHP/1B/OF, Falcon

The centerpiece on the Class 4A runner-ups was a two-way behemoth; McLennan Community College commit hit .629, and also had a 2.60 ERA.

Tristan Mullis, Jr. INF/OF, Pine Creek

Mullis paced Pine Creek with a .514 average, which included 6 triples, 6 homers, a .581 on-base percentage, .916 slugging and 1.497 OPS.

Andrew Henderson, Sr. 3B/RHP, Grand Junction

The Indiana State commit was the Tigers’ star en route to the Class 4A state tournament; hit .437, and posted a 1.53 ERA in 11 games with 86 Ks.

That was the message Eades delivered to his team on April 1, following a 9-6 road loss to then-No. 2 and undefeated Falcon. The Hornets bought it: From then on, Pueblo County went 17-1, including a flawless 4-0 in the state tournament to capture the Class 4A title, the first in the program’s history.

That feat earned Eades the honor of The Denver Post’s 2026 All-Colorado baseball Coach of the Year.

“When that game (on April 1) ended, I laid it out there to my team that if this was perhaps the best team in the state (in Falcon), we’re right there, too,” Eades recalled. “We talked about if there was a handicapper for the rest of the season, we’d be the favorite the rest of the way in every game we played. The boys took that to heart, and we really got rolling.”

The Hornets (23-6, 4A South Central League champions) became the first Home of Heroes baseball team to win a title since Pueblo West did so in 4A in 2019. And it was redemption for Pueblo County after losing to Holy Family in the championship two years ago. In that game, Hornets ace Blake Swift made his varsity debut in mop-up work in the 13-6 loss.

Swift was the centerpiece to Pueblo County’s title run this season, Eades’ ninth as head coach and 14th overall in the program. The senior right-hander bound for Otero College was 8-2 with a 1.51 ERA in 15 games, with 78 strikeouts as opponents hit just .184 against him.

An All-Colorado selection and the Swift dominated the state tournament. He pitched a complete-game shutout in a 2-0 win over Grand Junction in the tournament opener, then with still room left in his daily pitch count, started the second game that followed with two more shutout innings in a 6-1 win over top-seeded Palisade.

In the title game, Swift notched a quality start with three earned runs across six-plus innings as the Hornets beat Falcon 9-4. While Swift did the heavy lifting on the mound, the Pueblo County offense — headlined by All-Colorado senior second baseman Nick Hernandez, who was 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs in the title and led the team with a .435 average on the season — couldn’t be stopped.

“When Blake’s on the mound, we were a different team confidence-wise,” Eades said. “And we were deep on offense. We had a lineup that overwhelmed pitching staffs with nine guys that can really swing it.”

The championship marked a pinnacle for Eades, who was overcome with emotion after hoisting the trophy at the Air Force Academy. Eades, a 2005 Pueblo County graduate, didn’t play high school baseball.

But he has long been infatuated with the game and spent his high school days umpiring. From there, his first coaching gig was at the youth level for a 12U team while in college at CSU Pueblo. He coached that team until those players reached high school, then joined the Pueblo County staff as a volunteer assistant in 2013.

“Coaching that youth team gave me that fire like, ‘Man, I would really like to see how I do at the high school level,'” Eades said. “When I finally got the chance, I just ran with it.”

The Hornets haven’t had a losing season with Eades at the helm, as they’ve made the playoffs every year and made five state tournament appearances. The 39-year-old is 148-55 in his tenure, including 18-11 in the playoffs.

Swift says Eades’ combination of leadership, humor and passion helped propel the Hornets to the title. It’s only for a school that’s been open since 1953, joining titles in wrestling (2016 and ’17), softball (1995) and girls basketball (1981).

“We knew this was possible,” Blake Swift said. “We just had to just break through and show the state what we had. (Eades) kept us together and on track all season to reach our ultimate goal.”

All-Colorado Coach of the Year Finalists

Matt Darr, Regis Jesuit — The Raiders’ boss earned his third state title, and second in Class 5A, as loaded Regis Jesuit avenged two straight runner-up finishes with a masterful state tournament performance by beating Arvada West in the winner-take-all championship, 5-3.

Casey Miller, University — The Bulldogs felt short in the Class 3A title four years in a row, but University didn’t leave a doubt this year, rampaging through the state tournament by a combined score of 36-4. That included smashing rival Eaton 19-2 in the semifinals.

Danny Vais, Arvada West — The Wildcats reached their first title since 1995 and came up a few runs short in the championship defeat to Regis Jesuit. Vais coached the core of A-West’s senior impact players, as well as his son, junior superstar Cooper Vais, since elementary school.

James Christopher “Jim” Thomure, 57, of Centennial was arrested in June 2024 after he sexually assaulted and propositioned a 17-year-old student who was finishing an exam in his classroom in May 2024, according to police reports.

Thomure pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child, a felony, and misdemeanor child abuse in January. The district attorney’s office dismissed one count of child sex assault as part of the plea agreement.

The victim read a statement during Thomure’s sentencing hearing Friday and described feeling guilty after the assault and Thomure’s arrest and worrying about how it was impacting him. She convinced herself he thought it was a terrible mistake and regretted it, she said.

“However, this consideration and care was once again not extended when he chose not to plead guilty at the first plea hearing,” she said. “It was not extended when he made that choice knowing I would have to endure a trial over a crime we both know was committed.”

She described being weighed down with anxiety during her high school graduation, carrying the secret of what happened as she was expected to praise him while talking to her classmates.

“The experience has stayed with me for years. I am proud that I chose to stand with myself, with others who have spoken out, who are afraid to speak out or are unsure if they should,” she said.

In addition to 300 days in jail, Thomure was sentenced to eight years of intensive probation for sex offenders as part of the plea agreement.

“This man violated the trust placed in him as an educator and caused lasting harm to a young victim,” said Danielle Jaramillo, chief deputy district attorney. “Our office will continue to hold accountable those who exploit and prey on children.”

Thomure’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sentencing.

passed the state House with bipartisan support Monday, clearing the chamber on a 57-5 vote. Once the Senate — which already passed the bill — waves the House version through a final procedural vote, it will head to Gov. Jared Polis for passage into law.

The bill would require social media companies with more than 1 million Colorado users to establish a streamlined process for responding to search warrants in the state. The bill would require the companies to establish a hotline to respond to law enforcement questions, and it would require them to acknowledge the receipt of the warrants within eight hours.

The companies would also generally be required to comply with the warrants within three days.

The bill is partially a redo of a broader measure that Polis vetoed last year. Dawn Reinfeld, executive director of the nonprofit group Blue Rising, which supported the policy this year and last year, said the bill was focused on helping families whose children died of fentanyl overdoses.

“The social media delays in responding to lawful warrants have cost lives in Colorado,” she wrote in a statement Monday, “and we are grateful to the sponsors for taking this issue up again to remind the platforms that they are not above the law and must comply with law enforcement warrants.”

SB-11’s imminent passage also comes in the wake of September’s Evergreen High School shooting, in which a student wounded two classmates before fatally shooting himself.

The student had an extensive social media presence that showed an idealization of other school shooters and an affinity for antisemitic and Nazi ideologies.

The FBI has confirmed it received a tip about the shooter’s social media presence before the shooting, and the agency issued three search warrants in response. But the FBI didn’t receive a response to the warrant that would’ve provided his home address until hours after the shooting.

“Weak requirements around delivering digital evidence make it nearly impossible for victims and their families to seek justice,” Rep. Andy Boesenecker, a Fort Collins Democrat, said in a statement. “By requiring social media companies to respond to search warrants in a timely manner, we can improve pathways to justice and protect our communities from further harm.”

He sponsored the bill with fellow Democratic Sen. Dylan Roberts, Republican Sen. Lisa Frizell and Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell.

The bill includes provisions of another measure, , that Polis vetoed last year. That measure had gone further on its proposed requirements for social media companies, including mandating that the platforms report their internal policies and when users were disciplined for violating them.

Polis’ criticism of that bill was not related to the search warrant procedures. In a statement Monday, Polis spokesman Eric Maruyama said that “ensuring social media companies are responsive to warrants is an important tool to help law enforcement investigate and prosecute online crime, and (Polis) believes SB26-011 does that. Governor Polis looks forward to reviewing the final version of the bill.”

Another bill, , would similarly require social media companies to streamline their processes. It would require law enforcement to respond to some search warrants within 24 hours. That bill is set for its first committee vote Wednesday.

James “Jim” Christopher Thomure, 57, of Centennial was arrested in June 2024 after a Douglas County Sheriff’s Office investigation found he sexually assaulted a student while the two were alone in a classroom together.

Thomure, who began working at the Douglas County School District in 1999, was put on administrative leave after his arrest and resigned in July 2024.

Thomure pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child, a felony, and misdemeanor child abuse during a court hearing Wednesday. One count of child sex assault was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Thomure is free on a $20,000 bail, according to court records. His sentencing is set for April 3.

Last year, the basketball star transferred from in Castle Rock to in Aurora for his senior season. In doing so, Nettles — who open-enrolled at Douglas County as a freshman — moved with his family into Eaglecrest’s attendance area that summer.

Nettles believed the move should have given him full eligibility to play for the Raptors that winter. CHSAA’s Mike Krueger thought otherwise. Because Nettles moved roughly a mile closer to Douglas County, the commissioner said, the point guard would not be immediately eligible for the upcoming season, since CHSAA didn’t consider the school switch to be a requirement of his circumstance.

“I was in a dark place at the start of the season, because I thought we did everything right to be able to play,” Nettles said. “It was my senior season, the team was going to be really good. … Even though I ended up being able to play the second half of the year, I was still hurt by the decision. I thought the ruling made no sense.”

Nettles’ case illustrates the often-controversial nature of the CHSAA transfer system — one that is getting tested more with each passing year. Since the CHSAA bylaws on transfers changed in 2018, the number of student-athletes switching schools has nearly doubled. That has exposed more families, programs and schools to a system that often operates subjectively in gray areas, attempting to balance fairness to individual athletes with the greater good of Colorado high school sports.

Coaches and athletic directors expressed concerns about this balancing act as CHSAA attempts to keep student-athletes from program-jumping to powerhouse teams, while simultaneously recognizing that there are non-athletically motivated reasons to change schools. Colorado’s issues mirror a national trend seen in other high school associations and in the , and some coaches and ADs believe a one-time free transfer could be a Band-Aid solution.

The system has its critics, with some arguing that it¶¶Òőap too harsh in some cases and is exploited by families and programs in others. Meanwhile, Krueger and supporters believe it is an effective means of preserving the association’s purpose of educationally-based athletics — even if CHSAA lacks the investigative ability to fully police the system.

“I do think we have a very good system,” Krueger said. “I think that the changes that have been made over the last decade helped (make the transfer landscape fairer), and we’ve tweaked it and we’ve tried to get better over the years since.

“… There is no perfect system. Can people manipulate it? I’m sure they can, but we’re doing the best we can with the bylaws in place, and I would put Colorado’s system up against others across the country.”

Colorado’s transfer frenzy

When CHSAA it set in place stricter parameters for transfers to gain immediate varsity eligibility while also opening the door for full eligibility for student-athletes who met the exception requirements. Previously, the majority of transfers were required to sit out half a season in their respective sport, regardless of circumstance.

Since the bylaws changed, transfers lose varsity eligibility for 365 days from their last day of participation, except in certain circumstances. The three primary exemptions are a bona fide family move, a hardship (defined by the bylaws as “a documented situation, condition or event which must impose a severe, non-athletic burden upon the student or their family and requires a transfer of schools”) or a broken home (e.g., a move from one parent to another in the case of a divorce).

Since that change, transfer waivers in Colorado have surged.

There were about 1,800 transfer-waiver requests in 2017-18, according to Alex Halpern, CHSAA’s legal counsel at the time. But that number nearly doubled in 2024-25 to 3,542 waiver requests, according to data provided by CHSAA. Under Krueger’s four-year tenure, the number of transfer-waiver requests increased each of the first three years, and is on pace to be around 3,250 waiver requests in 2025-26.

CHSAA’s Skyrocketing Waiver Requests

A look at Colorado’s transfer waiver request data since CHSAA commissioner Mike Krueger’s tenure began in 2022. 

Source: CHSAA | *The 2025-26 numbers are as of Oct. 16, 2025.

Even in a school-of-choice state — incoming freshmen can attend almost any school they desire, regardless of where they live — open enrollment is doing little to quell the spike in movement once student-athletes start their prep careers.

The transfer frenzy is similar to what’s happening at the collegiate level, where NCAA athletes won the right to unlimited transfers just a year ago.

“CHSAA’s going to have to make some tough decisions, and stand by their decisions (on transfers) or it’s just going to snowball, and I think that’s what you’re seeing in the NCAA,” baseball coach Scott Bullock observed. “The NCAA has thrown in the white towel on transfers. I sure hope we’re not heading that direction with CHSAA, but it feels like it could go that way with the drastic increase of transfers we’ve seen over the past five to 10 years.”

CEO Karissa Niehoff said that, nationwide, transfers are “the most challenging issue for state associations right now.”

“For the last three years, the escalation in these issues has been profound,” Niehoff said. “With what’s happened at the NCAA level, that’s set up a model for high school state associations to be challenged. The state associations feel the volatility right now surrounding this issue.”

Niehoff believes that the explosion of transfers is the result of a “significant paradigm shift,” and she called the issue a “development distraction” to educationally-based athletics. NFHS does not currently track national transfer data, but gathering and analyzing that data is being considered in the near future.

“If our concept of high school sports is about performance, about pathway to scholarship, solely about wins and losses … then it’s not an education-based experience,” Niehoff said. “What people have forgotten, and this has not changed nor will it change, is that 97% of our high school student-athletes will not play in college, period.

“I think we have to hold firm on the difference between high school and collegiate experiences, and we have to put a stake in the ground that we are not college.”

One-time freebie?

With the pressure state associations are under — often from lawyers and legislators called upon by disenchanted families — Niehoff said the trend nationally is to enact a one-time free transfer. That grants a student-athlete immediate varsity eligibility at the new school, regardless of the reason for the transfer.

“Quite frankly, if state associations don’t do (a one-time free transfer), it will be done to them,” Niehoff said.

Ten states have already gone that route, That includes where unlimited transfers are allowed. Niehoff said a few other state associations are also getting pressure to allow unlimited transfers.

In Colorado, there’s been discussion among leagues and athletic directors to enact a one-time free transfer policy, but it’s yet to make it to a vote at CHSAA’s Legislative Council. Krueger said CHSAA put together a task force over the summer to examine its transfer policy, which included bringing in representatives from other state associations that have already made the change to a one-time freebie.

The result of that task force was adjustments to the current bylaws on transfers due to military reassignment, legal change of guardianship and administrative transfers. CHSAA also put together a transfer resource guide for its member schools and athletic directors, a booklet that Krueger said the association plans to expand and eventually get in the hands of parents.

But CHSAA’s big takeaway from its task force, Krueger said, was that Colorado “already has major components of a free transfer system.” For that reason, he said Colorado is not trending toward joining the states that have adopted that system.

“When we looked at what the challenges are in the transfer process, (one free transfer) doesn’t eliminate the challenges,” Krueger said. “It creates a free-for-all and a whole new set of challenges. 
 and now you would have so much recruiting going on, so many power teams being built. Now you have to enforce different bylaws (on recruiting).

“… New Jersey really likes their one free transfer system and thinks that it’s worked out great. But I worry when you have the one free transfer, and when you add in pressures of what’s happening with the transfer portal at the NCAA, you’ve seen some of the challenges that arise when athletes can just go wherever they want.”

Eaglecrest basketball coach Jarris Krapcha agrees with the commissioner, believing that a one-time free transfer would lead to a negative outcome in Colorado.

“The recruiting piece — the pre-enrollment contact piece — is something that CHSAA cannot police simply because they don’t have the manpower, and it’s already happening rampantly,” Krapcha said. “If you allow a one-time free transfer, it’s going to be open season on recruiting other players from other schools.”

athletic director Derek Holliday is among those who believe Colorado should enact a one-time free transfer system. He is on the transfer waiver committee for .

Holliday says his school consists of about 50% open enrollment students, and he said that athletically and/or academically, “sometimes, it just doesn’t work out.” He believes those kids should be given a free pass to transfer elsewhere with immediate varsity eligibility, regardless of their motivations.

“I believe that before your sophomore year — say July 31 — you should have a one-time free transfer,” Holliday said. “I see some kids come in, and Columbine is just not a good fit for them. I don’t think it would be a bad thing to allow those kids to transfer. And I know a lot of ADs across the state would agree with that.”

Football coach Ryan Marini at also agrees with the concept of a one-time free transfer, but simply because he’s exasperated with the loopholes he sees in the current system.

“At this point, we may as well give in to a one-time freebie, because the system’s broken,” Marini said. “This might be depressing to say, but I’m kind of the point where if this is what Colorado families want — if this is the exploited system they want, if they want kids not to have to face adversity in a certain program, if they think it’s unfair to their kid that they can’t jump to a state championship team with immediate eligibility, then I guess just give the people what they want.”

head coach Jay Madden took a similar stance to Marini, although for different reasons.

The former football boss said “there’s too much gray area” in the system. He also questioned why students participating in activities such as band, choir, speech and Esports can transfer without penalty, but athletes cannot.

“If I transfer to Legacy High School because I love band, that’s OK, but if I transfer to Cherry Creek because I love football, that’s not OK. Why?” Madden said. “My other thought is, the transfer rules exist because we’re trying to maintain balance. But in 5A and 4A football, there is no balance. It’s the haves and the have-nots.

“I understand the competitive disadvantage that transfers (in theory) put a lot of schools in, but we’re already there in many sports even with these rules.”

‘Every scheme you can think of’

As Madden described, CHSAA’s transfer rules have not prevented families from manipulating the system or athletes from jumping to powerhouse programs.

The trend is most visible in football and basketball, where the talent disparity between the top programs and everyone else is significant. girls hoops coach Darren Pitzner compared Colorado’s top teams to “NBA super teams: Assembled, not homegrown.”

In addition to Holliday, seven other Class 5A athletic directors questioned about bona fide moves for this story echoed the Columbine AD’s sentiment that there can be a lack of validity in the documentation families provide, and that documentation is sometimes not being thoroughly vetted by athletic directors at the new school.

For a move to count as “bona fide,” per CHSAA bylaws, an athlete’s family must make “a permanent change in the family’s legal place of domicile.” CHSAA requires families to submit documentation such as the sale of property or a rental agreement, as well as a final utility bill for the previous residence.

But athletic directors say families are finding ways around those stipulations, including the rule that a family cannot retain ownership of its previous home. Those same ADs believe families who rent, or have the means to rent an additional house or apartment on top of the home they already own, also have an advantage to try to game the system.

“I had a family who wanted to come play at Denver South propose to me, ‘We’re going to sublet my sister’s house, because it’s in your neighborhood, and we’re going to call that our apartment,'” Marini said. “And I’m like, ‘I’m not really comfortable with that.’ It’s every scheme you can think of.”

Holliday cited a specific example of a transfer he said he has intimate knowledge of, and how that student-athlete’s family circumvented the bona fide move rule.

“(That family) purchased a specific house, went to that school, sold that house after it didn’t work out, but they kept the other one over in the (original) area and then used that as the ‘new’ purchase, even though they didn’t purchase it — they already had it,” Holliday said.

“Now they’re back in their old home, the other one was just used to purchase and to rent, and the kid has full eligibility. And we all know it. Everybody around here knows it. And we’ve even brought it up (to CHSAA), but yet there’s nobody that’s providing answers.”

football coach Danny Filleman went so far as to say “parents are treating high school sports like the NCAA transfer portal right now, and they’ll do just about anything to get immediate (varsity) eligibility.” Niehoff agrees with the football coach and said it’s a problem on a national scale.

“(Families) are trying to exploit loopholes across the board,” Niehoff said. “When I was in Connecticut (as the state association commissioner), we had families get divorced or give up guardianship of their child so that the child could go to a school and be eligible to play. It’s just ridiculous what some of these people will try and do.

“… Families with means buy properties and don’t live in them, just to say they have a mailing address. I can remember doing some investigative work with our team in Connecticut, and literally looking into windows of houses. There was no furniture in there — they were clearly not living there.”

Questions about hardships

In Colorado, the transfers of two high-profile quarterbacks over the last few seasons illustrate the changing nature of big-time high school athletics.

In 2023, Bekkem Kritza transferred mid-fall to Boulder’s from in Florida and was eventually cleared to play via a hardship waiver. Kritza played his freshman year at Fairview, his sophomore year at in California, split his junior year between Miami Central and Fairview, and then played his senior season ČčłÙÌę in Florida.

His prep career took him to four schools across three states, and he’s now on the roster at Penn State.

This fall, DJ Bordeaux also got full varsity eligibility at Legend via a hardship waiver after a similarly windy road. He played his freshman year at ThunderRidge, his sophomore season at in Georgia, and his junior season at , also in Georgia, before ending up at Legend for his senior season. He is committed to Boston College.

Longtime Colorado high school football coach Ron Woitalewicz questions the legitimacy of both transfers, saying “those seem to be clear cases of athletically-motivated moves.” Bordeaux told The Post in August that he left ThunderRidge because “my dad wanted me to move out to Georgia just for a better situation,” and then he came back to Colorado because “some family stuff had happened” and his mother needed him to come back to Colorado.

“When you transfer to four schools in four years, I struggle with that,” Woitalewicz added. “So (Bordeaux) is at ThunderRidge, goes to two schools in Georgia, moves back. … I mean, define hardship there. But that’s part of the problem — it’s so subjective.”

Douglas County athletic director Diane Shuck-Gray echoed skepticism about Bordeaux’s hardship. She said that’s why she voted no on his transfer when the quarterback’s waiver was brought to the Continental League meeting. She said she trusts Krueger’s judgement, but not the system itself, noting that “families have figured it out and how to beat it.”

“I don’t think we’re hitting the mark with (hardship waivers) right now,” said Shuck-Gray, who also serves on CHSAA’s sportsmanship and equity committee. “When you’re transferring after you’ve started high school, especially multiple times, is where my red flags go up. You’re shopping. We’ve got to get back to equal and fair, and start protecting those other schools (that don’t get transfers).

“So we’ve got to tighten it down. At some point, we may just need to go to: If you change schools in the state of Colorado, no matter what, there’s no hardship waiver except in the case of a military reassignment.”

Because of the gray area that comes with hardships, Krueger called it the most challenging type of waiver that lands on his desk. The commissioner also acknowledged that the broken home bylaw is “another area where people can take advantage.” More than a dozen coaches and administrators interviewed for this story said that using divorce as a means to gain an athlete’s immediate varsity eligibility has become a popular loophole.

As Shuck-Gray explained, parents are willing to get a finalized dissolution of marriage by a court order to get clearance from that specific bylaw — even if those parents are actually still together as a couple. There is also no set time frame on the broken home exception, so a couple can have been divorced for years and then use the bylaw much later on to gain their child’s eligibility.

“I get frustrated when we have athletic directors bring forward waivers over a broken home, claiming that kid moved from mom’s house to dad’s house,” Shuck-Gray said. “We found the family (recently) that, for lack of better terms, faked a divorce and they had the means to have the papers drawn up. It looks legit. And then come to find out it wasn’t legit. And it was all to be able to play. It’s sending the wrong message to people, because at what price do you want to win?”

The transfer system process

When a student-athlete transfers, their waiver goes through a specific process that involves assessment from both the sending and receiving athletic directors, a vote by the receiving league (in the case of hardship and broken home waivers) and ultimately a decision by Krueger himself.

Bona fide move waivers, with proper documentation, skip a league vote and go straight to Krueger’s desk. He sometimes has help reviewing waivers from his assistant commissioners, especially in the summer when CHSAA is getting hundreds of waivers daily.

Krueger, who emphasized that CHSAA is not an investigative agency, said the information he receives for waivers is “based on the integrity of the membership.”

While Krueger will occasionally check addresses for transfers to confirm their new address is in the attendance area of their new school, he relies on athletic directors to provide him with details about each transfer. The sending and receiving ADs fill out an online form about the transfer. The form for the receiving AD must contain documentation related to a bona fide move, hardship or broken home claim. The sending AD must indicate what sports the student participated in, their date of last participation in each sport, and the AD must answer four questions.

1) Do you consider this transfer athletically motivated? 2) Do you have any concerns about any disciplinary issues? 3) Was the student academically eligible? 4) Do you agree with all the information provided in the receiving school’s waiver?

Krueger said a yes to the question about athletic motivation is a “red flag that will sometimes key me in (on concerns).” It’s also a red flag for when a hardship/broken home waiver gets to a league vote, Boulder athletic director Ryan Bishop said.

“When I see it¶¶Òőap checked as athletically motivated, that waiver goes no further on my desk until I know that the ADs have talked to each other about the concerns,” Krueger said.

Six of the ADs interviewed for this story said that marking a transfer as athletically motivated sometimes isn’t worth the blowback they receive from the family, even if the AD thinks that’s the case. Five of the coaches The Post spoke with believe there are times when ADs have a “buddy system” when it comes to the league vote and voting transfers through as a quid pro quo.

Jason Lind, whose football son transferred from Regis Jesuit in Aurora to in Parker, said athletic directors are given too much power with “athletically motivated” determinations.

“I think a lot comes down to does the school like you, and is there any reason for them to want to try and punish you (for transferring),” Lind said. “Otherwise, if you have a great relationship with your athletic director, I get the sense you have a better chance.

“It¶¶Òőap almost like you have to get their approval ahead of time, and it feels like there’s sometimes no rhyme or reason for why some kids (get that box checked by their AD) and some don’t.”

After a league votes on a hardship or broken-home waiver, it goes to Krueger for review. In the case of Kritza and Bordeaux, both of their hardship waivers were passed by their respective leagues in a vote before Krueger signed off.

While Krueger sometimes disagrees with a league vote, he said he aligns with their decisions more than 90% of the time.

“The league vote is not a determining vote — it’s a communication vote to CHSAA on where we are, because we have that rich, robust discussion,” athletic director David Walck said. “Considering how much the league discusses each hardship waiver, it’s a big reason why I believe this is by far the most robust process that we’ve ever had.”

Bishop echoed that sentiment, noting that “there’s always gray area, but that gray area lives within the ADs.”

“I didn’t trust the process (as a coach) just because I didn’t know it,” Bishop said. “Now, as an AD, I’m trying to teach my coaches, ‘Just trust the process.’ It’s a lot better than we think it is.”

Schools can appeal waiver decisions on behalf of the student-athlete. CHSAA’s central appeals committee consists of roughly 15 people, mainly former athletic administrators. Three of those committee members are selected to hear an appeal, which occurs virtually. Krueger said the central appeals committee is independent of his office.

Based on CHSAA’s transfer waiver statistics since 2022-23, the chances of getting a decision overturned on appeal are slim. Of 11,626 waiver rulings since Krueger became commissioner, 32 were appealed to the central appeals committee, according to data provided by CHSAA. Just two of those decisions (6%) were overturned.

The perception problem

Nettles was one of those who appealed his decision.

He lost his bid for immediate varsity eligibility. Still, Nettles and the Raptors won in the end. He was granted restricted varsity eligibility, which allows seniors to play in the regular season because it’s their final year. Then he became eligible for the playoffs because his 365-day clock expired due to Douglas County losing early in the playoffs the year before. With his presence on the floor, Eaglecrest ran the table all the way to the Class 6A title.

While athletes and their families are bound to be dissatisfied when CHSAA rules against their child, Krueger maintains that “Colorado‘s transfer system is strong and serves our schools very well.”

“When a decision doesn’t align with what a family had hoped for, it¶¶Òőap understandable that frustration often shifts toward the process itself,” Krueger said. “But an outcome that wasn’t desired does not mean the system is unfair or broken.”

Many waiver decisions don’t end up as rosy as Nettles’ did. And while CHSAA views transfers as an evolving issue that will continue to get attention whether Krueger approves or denies them, it’s clear that the current system has a perception issue among coaches, parents and ADs.

“I think the biggest problem with the overall aspect of it is just that from what I hear from talking with (stakeholders around the state) is I don’t think everyone feels like all schools are playing by the same set of rules,” said Daniel Mohrmann, the editor of . “I think the CHSAA office does its best to make sure that’s the case.

“… But whatever road the membership wants to go down in the future with this issue, they need to do their best to 1) ensure that every school has a level playing field in the situation, and 2) that it also feels that way. Because I don’t know that either of those things are true right now.”

The position sat vacant for six months. The students at the Denver college who were waiting to learn the popular trade saw their program paused, stalling their education.

“Whenever you have a vacancy for an instructor position, it’s really hard to find candidates,” said Gideon Geisel, Emily Griffith’s dean of trades, business and technology. “You turn over every possible stone you can think of, and usually it takes a really long time — and that, ultimately, does impact students.”

Emily Griffith Technical College is the public postsecondary and adult-education arm of the system and one of three technical colleges in the Colorado Community College system. The school offers various , or CTE, certificate programs like barbering, welding, water quality management and computer networking.

Career and technical education, the product of what are more commonly known as trade schools, is now offered in middle schools, high schools, community and technical colleges, and even some four-year universities across the country.

Due to instructor shortages, Emily Griffith has been forced to close programs — most recently, a program on computer-aided design and building information modeling.

The college employs about 26 full-time and 40 part-time credentialed instructors. Substitute instructors provide support when needed. At the moment, Geisel said, the trade school is fully staffed, but that doesn’t account for the long waitlists its programs have. Administrators anxiously await the next staff vacancy, knowing it could mean another program closure or indefinite pause.

The technical college has experienced long delays between losing an instructor and hiring another, resulting in program interruptions and delayed completion for students, including in accounting, massage therapy and automotive services.

To help remedy the problem, state officials are looking to coax trade workers out of retirement or entice aging employees with labor-intensive jobs to take on the less physically taxing career of instructor at Colorado’s trade schools.

The ongoing CTE instructor shortages at Emily Griffith are emblematic of a nationwide problem compounded by , but not enough instructors to meet that demand.

“This is not isolated to Emily Griffith,” Geisel said. “This is a metro-area-wide challenge, a statewide challenge, a nationwide challenge. It’s one thing to have the student demand for it. It’s another thing to have the supply to meet the demand.”

Teaching a new generation

Colorado supported 1,367 CTE programs across 329 schools and 154 districts during 2023-2024 academic year for the more than 125,000 CTE students enrolled in high school, according to . For postsecondary options, the state offered 716 CTE programs across 20 community and technical colleges, as well as in the .

Schools in the state awarded 21,005 postsecondary CTE certificates and associate degrees during the 2023-2024 academic year. Nearly 80% of employed graduates are working in an occupation related to the CTE program they completed, with median wages ranging from $54,550 in construction to $80,760 for a registered nurse, according to state data.

Corbin Lewis hopes to be among the CTE graduates soon. The 19-year-old is a welding student at Emily Griffith who hopes to work on a pipeline to gain experience before owning his own rig and starting an oil and gas company.

The teen took a welding class at Douglas County High School and found he enjoyed working with his hands more than traditional book learning. His father and grandfather both worked in trades, and he intends to follow in their footsteps.

“You’re getting to do what you would do out in the field,” Lewis said. “It’s a really good community around here.”

In the automotive services wing of the campus during a recent visit, a group of students huddled beneath a vehicle perched on a hydraulic lift, wielding tools as they learned about changing transmission oil.

Gary Kreider has been an automotive instructor at Emily Griffith for two years. He was previously the shop foreman at a local Toyota dealership for nearly 40 years.

When his body told him it was time to get out of the labor-intensive job, the 63-year-old heard about a trade instructor position through which he could pass along his expertise.

“I physically wanted out, but I still had something to offer a new generation,” he said.

Kreider is refreshed to be teaching young folks who are engaged in mechanic work. At the dealership, he said he struggled to fill positions, but now he’s on the other side of the pipeline, imparting his knowledge onto bright, eager learners.

He enjoys the teaching aspect, but there’s an unexpected bonus he’s come to cherish: vacation time.

Kreider went from working 60 to 70 hours a week at the dealership to about 40 hours a week with the bonus of academic-calendar vacations.

“I’ve never had that much time off in my whole career,” he said.

An ‘encore career’

A lack of skilled instructors means schools can’t train the next generation of electricians, HVAC technicians, welders and other professionals.

The implications are far-reaching, Emily Griffith’s Geisel said.

From the infrastructure we rely on in our daily lives to the repairs needed to our transportation to the operators who make the water we drink safe, the trades are crucial to keeping our cities running as needed, he said.

“Why we’re so important for entry-level employment is a lot of people in the trades are getting older and they’re looking to us for that talent because the trade jobs are not going away,” Geisel said. “We’re still reliant on them.”

Catherine Imperatore, research and content director for the , offered some reasons why the shortage is happening.

Because CTE educators come from industry, they often lack traditional teaching experience and need to learn it on the job, which can be daunting, she said. It can be isolating if you’re the only CTE teacher on campus. Sometimes CTE teachers are asked to take on additional roles like leading student organizations such as , Imperatore said.

Pay is also pivotal. Many trade industries pay better than teaching, Imperatore said.

Sarah Heath, the career and technical education director with the Colorado Community College System, oversees CTE education across the state and is working to fill the instructor gap.

Tracking how many CTE jobs are vacant is difficult, Heath said. If a program gets cut and the job goes away, there’s often nowhere to document the change. The same goes for program pauses, she said.

After the pandemic hit universities hard, Heath saw a resurgence in young people turning to trades. Trade programs across the state have waitlists so long they require lottery systems because there aren’t enough teachers.

The state is addressing the dearth by reaching out to industry retirees, informing them that an “encore career” awaits in the classroom. Heath and her colleagues are partnering with human resource departments so that employees departing trade jobs can get information about instructor positions during their exit interviews.

Heath is also looking to connect with local or aging-focused groups to pitch retirees on passing along their hard-earned career skills while still having summers and holidays off for leisure.

The Colorado Community College System and the Emily Griffith Technical College each have programs in which industry workers without teaching experience can get the training and credentials they need to be classroom-ready.

“, and then we’ll figure it out,” Geisel said. “As long as you’ve worked in industry, it will translate.”

Heath also wants to connect with business owners and industry professionals who might not have the bandwidth to leave their jobs to come teach, but would welcome students to learn on-site.

Some Colorado schools, particularly in rural areas where job candidates are even fewer and farther between, are looking within when it comes to filling CTE positions, Heath said. For example, an employee who maintains the school bus fleet could be tapped to teach auto shop.

Anyone interested in learning more about becoming a trade school instructor or partnering with trades education is asked to email the Colorado Community College System’s CTE team at CTE@CCCS.edu and share their industry and location to be connected to the right person.

“I wish that trades folk, when they’re ready for a change or nearing the end of their career, they’d really consider continuing the gift and make sure their knowledge and expertise is passed along to the next generation that the local communities desperately need,” Geisel said.

Updated 12:20 p.m. Sept. 19, 2025: This story has been updated to correct a photo caption that misidentified Emily Griffith Technical College instructor Matt Sartorio.

All In, All Covered — the initiative the Denver Broncos Foundation announced Jan. 28 that plans to donate 15,516 new Riddell Axiom helmets across each Colorado high school program over the next four seasons — has 250 schools signed up, according to the team.

Colorado has 277 high school football programs, so about 90% of the state’s teams are participating. A key change to the program’s requirements that came two weeks after its launch, in which the Broncos reversed course and said schools did not have to use the data element of the smart helmets to participate, helped jumpstart the groundswell.

When the $12 million initiative first launched, concerns over the smart helmets’ data and how it would be stored and used kept several school districts from immediately opting into the program. Those holdouts included the state’s largest districts in Denver Public Schools, Jeffco Public Schools and Douglas County School District — all of which are now participating.

“(Using the data element) is certainly something we’re still going to continue to look at, but without having to do the data privacy agreements and have it vetted through our technology team, it expedited the process,” said DPS athletic director Kevin Bendjy, who expects his district’s participation to be formally approved in a Board of Education meeting next week.

“It seems like it’s a favorable response statewide at this point and pretty optimistic altogether.”

In addition to DPS, Jeffco and DCSD, The Denver Post confirmed that 19 other districts are participating in the program.

That includes larger districts such as Cherry Creek School District, Boulder Valley School District, Aurora Public Schools, St. Vrain Valley School District and Adams 12 Five Star Schools, districts in Colorado Springs and Pueblo, districts with one football program such as Fort Morgan and Byers 32J, and tiny rural districts such as Rocky Ford.

Of the 22 districts The Post spoke with, three — Byers 32J, Rocky Ford and Platte Valley — confirmed they will be using the data aspect of the Axioms. The majority will be participating in the program without the InSite Smart Helmet Technology that tracks helmet hits and the InSite Analytics used to analyze that data.

Riddell owns the helmet data, which can be anonymized. The company uses the information for product development, support and enhancements.

For a school like Rocky Ford, athletic director and football coach Sean McNames said his district believes the ability to learn from the data outweighed potential legal concerns.

“As a coach, I feel some of the data would be nice to monitor,” McNames said. “Where are our biggest collisions happening in practice? Do we need to change some of the drills we use in practice due to contact? How physically demanding was last Friday night’s game?”

At Douglas County High School, football coach Eric Rice said there was a buzz about his program when Riddell reps came to Castle Rock to do 3D scans for the helmets with his players.

“My players were very excited when they were getting fitted,” Rice said. “I would equate it to watching kids open their Christmas presents.”

The number of helmets each school receives varies . Each 5A school gets 100 total helmets at a rate of 25 per year, while 4A teams get 84 total, 3A gets 70, 2A gets 44, 1A gets 36, 8-man gets 26 and 6-man gets 22. The Axiom has a 2025 retail value of $980, according to Riddell’s 2025 catalog.

While each district’s savings varies, participation in All In, All Covered will have a ripple effect by providing additional funding for football, as well as other sports at many schools. Bendjy estimates DPS will save more than $400,000 over four years. On a micro level, Fort Morgan athletic director Lucas Devlin estimates his school will save more than $65,000.

Bendjy says DPS’ savings will be “repurposed in other areas” of the district athletic budget. Devlin says his district’s savings will be applied toward reconditioning the Axioms, in addition to buying more football equipment. For Rice’s Huskies, he hopes to use the surplus of about $10,000 this season to buy a new gauntlet machine for his running backs and address other big-ticket equipment items.

Elsewhere, Thompson School District will also use its savings to address equipment needs within other sports, while Mesa County Valley School District 51 plans to use the money specifically for girls sports.

While the positive ramifications of the program continue to stack up, one of Riddell’s main competitors that hoped to be included believes the initiative isn’t as well-rounded as it could be. the parent company of Schutt and Vicis, approached the Broncos to try to get its helmets integrated into All In, All Covered alongside Riddell.

The offer was rebuffed. Chad Hall, Certor Sports’ chief marketing officer, pointed out that the company has three of the top six helmets in the where the Axiom comes in at No. 7. He also says Schutt/Vicis helmets, which do not have a data component, can be custom fit without the need for 3D scans.

“We applaud the Broncos Foundation because this is an amazing thing that they’re doing,” Hall said. “But the assumption could be that (the Axiom) is the safest thing I could be wearing as an athlete. … We just want to make sure there’s an understanding that that’s not the case.

“For example, the locker room of the Denver Broncos looks very different than what is being presented to the whole state of Colorado. The locker room of the Denver Broncos is a locker room of choice. That choice is not being presented (to high schools). There are other options available that are not being presented as solutions because of the exclusivity arrangement that exists.”

The investigation by the DOJ’s , which has been quietly underway for at least a year, is partially in response to a 2023 federal lawsuit filed by the families of four Douglas County students of color who alleged the district and its leaders violated the children’s rights to an equal education by exhibiting “callous indifference” toward extensive racist bullying at school, their attorney, Iris Halpern, told The Denver Post.

Lacey Ganzy, the mother of two of the students in the lawsuit, said she has been interviewed by the DOJ as part of its investigation multiple times over the past year. Now, she said, the Civil Rights Division is opening up its probe and seeking further input from parents, students and the community.

“We are excited for some accountability,” Ganzy said. “I feel like the district is starting to get scared.”

In a statement Friday, Douglas County School District spokeswoman Paula Hans did not acknowledge the DOJ investigation or the complaints behind it. She said the district’s focus is on taking care of every student.

“Any student or parent who has a concern should report it immediately to their school leader or DCSD’s Compliance Office,” Hans said. “We take every concern very seriously as we are dedicated to ensuring that all of our students and staff experience a welcoming and caring environment in our schools.”

Representative from the Justice Department did not respond to multiple messages left since Thursday seeking comment on the investigation.

In an email Ganzy received from the DOJ this week, the agency said investigators will be in Douglas County next week and can meet in person Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, or via Zoom or phone call. People who would like to share their experience can reach the DOJ by emailing community.dcsd@usdoj.gov or calling 888-394-6317, the email states.

The email confirms the the Civil Rights Division is investigating the district response to bullying and discrimination of students “based on their race, national origin, religion or disability,” as well as its use of restraint methods and seclusion against students with disabilities.

“We would like to hear from parents, students and other community members about their experiences with discrimination, harassment and bullying in the school district,” DOJ officials wrote in the email, which was reviewed by The Post. They stressed “parents, students and community members are not under investigation.”

“Ensure equal access to educational opportunities”

The 2023 lawsuit, filed by Halpern on behalf of families with students who attended Castle Rock Middle School and Douglas County High School, named as defendants the Douglas County School District, its elected school board and Castle Rock principal John Veit. The teens were unnamed in the complaint because they are minors.

Halpern confirmed two of the teen plaintiffs were Jeramiah Ganzy and his sister Neveah Ganzy, who previously told The Post about racist bullying so egregious it prompted Jeramiah to finish his school year online and the family to flee Castle Rock.

Lacey Ganzy said her son remains in online school and in therapy three days a week as a result of his treatment by the district.

The students faced racist taunting by their peers, including being told to “go back to the plantation, you cotton-picking monkey,” the lawsuit alleged. Students took pictures of one of the plaintiffs using the restroom at school and circulated the photos online, the lawsuit said. The incident prompted the victim to refuse to use the restroom at school, impacting his health, the lawsuit said.

All three student plaintiffs at Castle Rock Middle School reported the racist bullying, the lawsuit said, but only faced retaliation by students.

“These DOJ should send a warning to the Douglas County School District that it needs to protect and support its minority students, revise its policies, ensure equal access to educational opportunities and stop treating students as pawns in its politicized culture wars,” Halpern said.

“It is time to revisit these practices”

The Justice Department’s investigation of the district’s use of seclusion and restraint stems from a 2022 complaint filed with the Civil Rights Division by attorney Emily Harvey of , she told The Post.

That complaint alleged an 8-year-old boy at Wildcat Mountain Elementary School in Highlands Ranch who qualified for special education services for “serious emotional disability” was frequently subjected to seclusion — isolated in a closed room — by district staff during the 2021-2022 school year.

The complaint stated there is evidence to suggest students in similar situations were also subjected to the use of restraints and seclusion, denying them equal access to education and violating the .

The filed a over the same case, ordering the Douglas County School District to remedy its seclusion and restraint policies to bring them into compliance with state law.

“Children are hurt both physically and emotionally when they are restrained and secluded at school,” Harvey said in an interview. “It is time to revisit these practices. We applaud the DOJ for taking our complaint seriously and visiting Colorado to speak directly with impacted families. We hope this investigation will lead to lasting changes in DCSD and throughout the state of Colorado.”

Additionally, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has four open investigations into alleged disability discrimination at Douglas County schools.

They include 2022 and 2024 cases around Free Appropriate Public Education, or the right for students with disabilities to receive education; a 2024 disability harassment investigation; and a 2024 denial of benefits claim.

Those cases are , but further details about them were not publicly available.

The Board of Education’s decision came after President Christy Williams initially delayed the vote during a Nov. 19 meeting, saying at the time that she hadn’t had enough time to review the course — which had drawn concerns from the community — and make sure it aligned with the Douglas County School District¶¶Òőap equity policy.

Williams said at the time that she had heard from community members who were worried the course would teach students critical race theory, an academic concept that says racism runs throughout American institutions, such as the legal and education systems.

“A lot of people have talked about the course that was banned from certain states,” Williams said, referencing the fact that the African American studies class has been barred in Florida, where teachings on race have been restricted.

“I can say now after researching and understanding that (the AP course) has been revised and modified and doesn’t include some of the controversial topics that were in there initially,” she added.

The seven-member school board must approve all classes taught in the district. The African American studies course is an AP class, meaning it¶¶Òőap a higher-level elective that it is offered to high schoolers who want to earn college credit.

Board members said they received emails from the community that both questioned and supported the course. Members, including Williams, said they reviewed the curriculum before making their decision.

“There’s a lot of rigor and expecting of including different viewpoints and proving your viewpoint and not so much about indoctrination,” said Kaylee Winegar, one of the conservative members of the board.

African American studies is a new class created by the College Board, which administers AP tests, and is now available at any school nationwide following a two-year pilot program. The course first arrived in 60 American schools during the 2022-23 academic year, including the Cherry Creek School District¶¶Òőap Overland High School in Aurora.

The course covers centuries of Black history, ranging from early African kingdoms to political and social movements of the 20th century. The class doesn’t just cover history, but also literature, art and other subjects using primary sources from certain historical periods, according to

“It was very interesting curriculum, very interesting topics,” said board member Becky Myers. “I was quite pleased to read everything.”

The course is now offered in hundreds of classrooms, including at Northfield High School and Bruce Randolph High School in Denver.

Valarie Moses, an English teacher at Highlands Ranch High School, submitted  to teach the African American studies course in Douglas County. The board’s approval means the course can now be taught at any school in the Douglas County School District starting as soon as the next academic year.

“This course curriculum does not teach an agenda; it teaches critical thinking,” Moses told the school board during public comments.

The district enrolled 61,964 pupils during the 2023-24 academic year, including 981 Black students, according to the latest data from the Colorado Department of Education.

Some states, such as Arkansas and South Carolina, have restricted the course, including by saying schools can offer the class without college credit — a move that comes as they more broadly limit the teaching of race and racism in public schools. entirely, saying it “significantly lacks educational value.”

The College Board , although the organization doing so because of the criticism from state officials in Florida. Revisions to the curriculum left out concepts such as critical race theory and structural racism,

In Douglas County, the school board has become known for its contentious meetings, especially after conservative members gained a majority on the board in 2021 and quickly voted to repeal the district¶¶Òőap mask mandate and change the districtwide equity policy.

Four students sued Douglas County School District last year, accusing district leaders of “callous indifference” toward racist bullying they faced at Castle Rock Middle School and Douglas County High School.

Almost all parents, educators and community members who spoke about the AP African American studies course during Tuesday’s meeting supported the class, saying that it will provide students with a deeper understanding of history and give Black students representation in school curriculum.

“When we don’t teach young people about the diversity that has shaped the United States of America we do them a disservice,” said one supporter of the course.

A grandparent of Douglas County students opposed the course, saying “some of the developers of this course have expressed in videos very biased political pro-Marxist and communist beliefs, negative perceptions of charter schools, our elections systems, electoral college, being racists and much more.”