Colorado parents push back after Dakota Ridge places transgender athlete on girls' volleyball roster
Parents of female volleyball players at Dakota Ridge High School in Colorado are demanding answers from Jefferson County Public Schools after a transgender athlete was placed on the junior varsity roster and given access to the girls' locker room.
Parents of female athletes at Dakota Ridge High School in Jefferson County, Colorado, are speaking out over a locker room dispute that has escalated into open opposition, demanding answers from district officials who placed a transgender player on the girls' junior varsity volleyball roster. Four Dakota Ridge parents, including fathers and mothers, told OutKick this week that they will not stay silent and are pressing Jefferson County Public Schools, known as Jeffco, for accountability.
The conflict centers on the district's decision to invoke state non-discrimination guidelines to open the female locker room to the athlete. Parents say the decision came even as coaching staff cut more than 35 female athletes from the program. Tanna Donalson, whose daughter and seven other juniors were cut from the volleyball program, was among the parents who first spoke publicly, and other parents have since joined her in questioning the policy. The parents argue that state rules are placing gender identity above the interests of female athletes.
Jeffco, Colorado's second-largest school district, has offered only one formal remedy for female athletes who object to sharing facilities: directing them to seek private changing spaces elsewhere in the building. Parents have criticized that approach. One Dakota Ridge father, identified as Josh, who attended a match this week, said the locker room is a sacred space and that the district's response placed the burden on the wrong group. "The Jeffco School Interim Superintendent said that they need to respect the privacy of all students," he said. "I guess 'all students' aren't the 50-plus girls on the volleyball teams that use the girls' locker room. Dakota Ridge said they will make accommodations for girls who are uncomfortable in the locker room. That should be the other way around."
Internal emails obtained by OutKick show that district leadership anticipated the dispute. In an October 6 email to district leadership, Dakota Ridge Athletic Director Jeff Legault wrote: "I heard that meetings were held weeks ago to discuss a plan for this scenario, which is unfolding exactly the way it was predicted." Parents say they were blindsided when the athlete was placed on the roster without warning. Josh said Dakota Ridge staff and the district knew about the issue and kept it quiet, calling it the elephant in the room. He also said a former coach whose daughters played for the program later stepped away from it.
Parents also describe a climate of fear over possible retaliation. Carey, the mother of a varsity athlete who has worked with disabled individuals for more than 30 years, said her daughter and a teammate were told they could not play in a volleyball game, nor attend it, after a private conversation in a school parking lot about a transgender player on the JV team. After Carey and another parent met with the coach and the athletic director, the decision was reversed and the girls were allowed to play. Carey said her daughter had also voiced discomfort about the locker room arrangement and was told the district could make accommodations for her, not for the other player.
Josh said head coach Matthew Zeman accused the players of bullying simply for talking among themselves, without citing a single broken rule. Carey said her priorities are safety, fairness in female sports and the ability to speak up without being punished. "This isn't about disrespecting anyone," she said. "This is about making it fair for everybody involved: primarily, safety in a girls' locker room, fairness in sports, and making sure our girls are able to speak up and feel respected."
Josh estimated that varsity parents are divided into three groups, saying 25 percent do not care or view the issue as a fight against the president, 50 percent want the matter to simply go away, and 25 percent are actively fighting the policy. OutKick reported observing the fallout at matches against Standley Lake on Monday and Littleton on Wednesday. The dispute remains unresolved, and parents say they will keep pressing the district for answers.
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