The U.S. Department of Education said Tuesday it is investigating Denver Public Schools over allegations that a high school teacher required students of the same sex to kiss in front of a class.

The probe will determine whether DPS violated a federal law that gives parents the right to opt out of school evaluations on topics including sexual behavior or attitudes, the department said.

“Parents must be the decision-makers in matters impacting the most intimate parts of their children’s lives,” Frank Miller, director of the Student Privacy Policy Office at the Education Department, said in a statement.

Denver schools spokesman Scott Pribble said the district put the teacher on administrative leave and completed an investigation after students raised concerns in March 2025. The statement did not specify what prompted the students’ concerns.

The Board of Education fired the teacher in May, he said.

“The safety, emotional well-being, and dignity of our students are the absolute highest priorities of DPS,” the statement said. “Our actions to date have been wholly consistent with those priorities.”

DPS did not say whether its investigation substantiated the specific allegation cited by the Education Department.

The department also announced a separate investigation into a Washington state district, the Bethel School District, about an hour south of Seattle, after vials of testosterone were displayed in an LGBTQ Pride Month exhibit at Graham-Kapowsin High School.

Bethel School District said the vials were not authorized by school administrators and were immediately removed and turned over to the Pierce County Sheriff's Office. Some vials had a “small amount of unknown liquid,” the district said.

Testosterone is prescribed for gender-affirming care. The district said it will cooperate fully with the Education Department's investigation.

Pierce County Sheriff's Deputy Carly Cappetto said Bethel school administrators identified the student who brought the vials to campus. No charges were filed, and the juvenile student was referred to a drug and alcohol diversion program, Adam Faber, a spokesman for the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, said in an email. He said the vials were not tested for testosterone, which is a controlled substance.

The district said it is reviewing its protocols for overseeing displays to “ensure all school materials strictly align with our educational standards and community expectations.”

The two districts are in states headed by Democrats. President Donald Trump is a Republican.

The Trump administration has opened dozens of investigations into schools that make accommodations for transgender and LGBTQ+ students, often taking aim at districts that allow students to use bathrooms or locker rooms that align with their gender identities. It accused Denver schools last year of violating Title IX protections against sex-based discrimination over such a bathroom policy.

Trump officials have also pushed against schools accused of keeping information about students’ gender identities confidential from their parents, which the department says is a violation of federal privacy laws.

The Education Department tied the new investigations to National Parents’ Day on Sunday. The agency said it will be announcing “significant actions” involving the enforcement of parental rights laws through the week.
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Associated Press writer Collin Binkley in Washington contributed to this report.