December 5, 2025 • 8 mins
CHSAA SETTLES ON BOYS IN GIRLS SPORTS And this is just the first round as districts like D49 in Colorado Springs refuse to allow fundamental unfairness to harm girls. According to the settlement reached and announced yesterday, D49 and its co-plaintiffs will be allowed to do the following:
• Maintain separate sports teams for biological boys and girls.
• Keep locker rooms and overnight travel accommodations separated by biological sex.
• Avoid CHSAA-imposed penalties for upholding these policies.
• Comply with Title IX and the U.S. Constitution while rejecting mandates that put student privacy at risk.
All of which is perfectly NORMAL (more on that later in the blog). They are still suing the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, and the Attorney General and will continue moving forward with that part of the suit. I've got D49 Superintendent Peter Hilts on at 12:30 to talk about it.
• Maintain separate sports teams for biological boys and girls.
• Keep locker rooms and overnight travel accommodations separated by biological sex.
• Avoid CHSAA-imposed penalties for upholding these policies.
• Comply with Title IX and the U.S. Constitution while rejecting mandates that put student privacy at risk.
All of which is perfectly NORMAL (more on that later in the blog). They are still suing the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, and the Attorney General and will continue moving forward with that part of the suit. I've got D49 Superintendent Peter Hilts on at 12:30 to talk about it.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We have some good news, at least for D forty
nine and the other districts that decided to stand up
to Chassa about rules that would allow biological boys to
both compete and share locker rooms with girls. And joining
me now to talk about this and what happened yesterday
is the D forty nine Superintendent Peter Hilts. Peter, welcome
back to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Thank you, Mandie. I appreciate the chance to be back.
And this is a day of celebration. We are really
gratified to see protections for our student athletes and for
the people that coach them.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
So give my audience it may not have been following
this story a little history, what happened and how did
we get to now a settlement? Give me that timeline, well.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Back in the springtime frame. This is really made June.
We asked Chassa first, just in a letter, we said, look,
can you clarify that you have these contradictory bilaws. One
says essentially, districts must allow students who are transgender to compete.
And then you have another bilog that says, but you
must also make sure you protect opportunities for girls who
(01:02):
are student athletes and those two directives in the bylaws
were irreconcilable. So we asked them first to reconcile or
to bring some coherence, and they said, we're not going
to be the ones to do that. If that's going
to happen, that's going to happen at the federal court level.
So we brought a reinforcement legal action named CHASSA along
with the Attorney General and the Colorado Civer Rights Division
(01:24):
and said, we want to be protected when we protect athletes,
girls who are trying to have the opportunity that they deserve.
So we've gone forward with this lawsuit. We reached a
settlement with CHASSA that where they agreed that they will
not penalize our students and they won't penalize our coaches.
(01:45):
They will not find us to be unsportsmanlike when we
assert that girls' sports are for girls. And we think
this is a tremendous victory.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
So I have some questions about the practical execution of this. Okay,
So if you have a girls volleyball team that shows
up to play a different school and they have a
male biological mail on their team, what does that mean
in terms of I mean if you forfeit the match.
Do you see what I'm saying, Like, how does this
work practically?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Sure? Yeah, we needn't see this play out nationally. Right,
prior to this settlement, CHASA could have determined that our
decision to forfeit our choice not to engage in an
unfair competition. They could have determined that that was unsportsmanlike
or that that constituted gross misconduct. They could have even
(02:35):
put the coach's coaching license in play. So we have
secured protection for our athletes and our coaches that a
forfeit would simply be a forfeit, a loss on our record.
It wouldn't disqualify our students from postseason play, and it
wouldn't disqualify our coaches from further coaching opportunities. So that's
why we characterize this as a big win for our students,
(02:59):
our student athletes, and for the people that coach them.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
So you guys have clarity, you have there's how many
districts we're in this.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
I have the list right here. Well, so there are
four school districts and four individual schools that participated as plaintiffs.
But we genuinely believe this applies across the state. To
one hundred and seventy eight districts and all of the
schools that they that they operate.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
I wouldn't ask this, Peter, because I'm a little unclear
about So Chassis said, essentially, you have to let transgender
students play, but you also have to accommodate girls sports.
But they did not offer any kind of framework of
how that would practically work. So if you had come
up and said, Okay, we're expecting transgender students to play
in a new open category that you haven't created yet,
(03:44):
so they literally just said, you guys, fix it, and
then we'll just sit over here and not do anything.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Right, So they both wanted to pass the buck to
districts and schools to take responsibility, but they also wanted
to reserve the right to sanction us if we came
up with a solution that they didn't approve, and so
they I mean, really, this is a lack of responsibility
on Chassis part in two directions. On the one hand,
(04:14):
they didn't want to set the standards themselves, they wanted
to leave that on us, And on the other hand,
they wanted to retain the right to second guess our
decisions and sanction our students and their coaches in case
they disagreed with our solution. So that's why this settlement
was so important and it was worth driving hard because
(04:34):
this protects teams that are competing right now, and this
obviously will protect student athletes and coaches into the future.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
The thing that still kind of stinks, and I realized
there's no perfect solutions, and maybe we'll get there eventually
with some of the lawsuits that are currently going to
be heard by the Supreme Court about similar issues. But ultimately,
if you are playing against multiple teams that have and
this is so unlikely to happen, to be clear, okay,
this is so unlikely to happen, multiple teams with biological
(05:02):
mails on there, then your student athletes do suffer because
they get a series of losses.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
That is a correct possible outcome, but we think it's
a low probability outcome because just as we're seeing even
in other jurisdictions, we're seeing this in Droup of Valley,
California and in other places as well. As common sense
is ascendant, we will see not only would our athletes
(05:29):
be impacted, but the teammates of that that transgender athlete
would also be impacted, they would lose the opportunity to compete.
And we know that participation in athletics, this is one
of the great principles of Title nine. Participation in athletics
is meaningful in practice and in competition, and in competing
for championships and in competing for scholarships. So the whole
(05:52):
opportunity is comprehensive. And when our student athletes take the
court or take the we don't want them to be
worried about how they might be mischaracterized. We want them
to compete and win and earn scholarships and learn the
leadership lessons that both victory and defeat have to offer,
(06:13):
or if it doesn't really teach you any lessons. So
we want our students to be able to compete, and
we think we have preserved that opportunity through this settle.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Well, I'm hoping to your point. I do hope that
CHASSA sort of just extends this to all of the
schools in Colorado. What's interesting to me is that CHASSA
has put themselves in direct opposition to the Trump administration. Actually,
I think they haven't put themselves because they basically tried
to punt it. If they had taken a strong stand
one way or the other. If it was the other,
(06:41):
they would have really been at odds and they may
have been sued and forced to explain themselves in a
Title nine situation. Maybe that's why they punted it to you, guys.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
I think that's possible. CHASSA is a membership organization, which
means that they're not directly accountable to the state legislature.
They're not really accountable to the Colorado Department of Education
or the State Board of Education. They're really accountable to
their members. And we know that lots of CHASSA member
districts appreciate and affirm the position that we have taken.
(07:13):
But if you're a smaller, especially a small rural district,
you might not have the resources to take on chass
or take on the Attorney General. And so we are
honored to have been able to carry this banner. We
appreciate our fellow district's Academy District twenty here in Olpaso County,
Colorado Spring School District eleven, the Montezuma Cortes School District.
(07:34):
They stood with us, as did individual schools, some charter schools.
An association schools called the Boss we stood together not
just on behalf of our student athletes and our coaches,
but really on behalf. We hope that this is inspirational
and serves as a template across Colorado and across the country.
So one last question.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
The lawsuit against Phil Wiser and Jared Polis continue.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
I'm not Jared Pulis.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
The Attorney General's office and the Civil Rights Commission continues,
though correct.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
We continue to hold the Colorado Attorney General and the
Colorado Civil Rights Division as plaintiffs. We will proceed because
we really need our day in federal court. Chassit either
invited us or pushed us to pursue a federal court solution,
and we took them up on their invitation. I don't
(08:24):
think they were bluffing. I think they were genuinely in
a bind as well, and so we want this to
We want to seek clarity not just for District forty
nine and the other plaintiff districts. We really want to
seek clarity for Colorado and for the country.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
D forty nine, Superintendent, I appreciate your making time for
me and explaining everything for us. Keep up the good
fight and we'll check in after you win the next round.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Thanks Mandy, we appreciate it.
We have some good news, at least for D forty
nine and the other districts that decided to stand up
to Chassa about rules that would allow biological boys to
both compete and share locker rooms with girls. And joining
me now to talk about this and what happened yesterday
is the D forty nine Superintendent Peter Hilts. Peter, welcome
back to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Thank you, Mandie. I appreciate the chance to be back.
And this is a day of celebration. We are really
gratified to see protections for our student athletes and for
the people that coach them.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
So give my audience it may not have been following
this story a little history, what happened and how did
we get to now a settlement? Give me that timeline, well.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Back in the springtime frame. This is really made June.
We asked Chassa first, just in a letter, we said, look,
can you clarify that you have these contradictory bilaws. One
says essentially, districts must allow students who are transgender to compete.
And then you have another bilog that says, but you
must also make sure you protect opportunities for girls who
(01:02):
are student athletes and those two directives in the bylaws
were irreconcilable. So we asked them first to reconcile or
to bring some coherence, and they said, we're not going
to be the ones to do that. If that's going
to happen, that's going to happen at the federal court level.
So we brought a reinforcement legal action named CHASSA along
with the Attorney General and the Colorado Civer Rights Division
(01:24):
and said, we want to be protected when we protect athletes,
girls who are trying to have the opportunity that they deserve.
So we've gone forward with this lawsuit. We reached a
settlement with CHASSA that where they agreed that they will
not penalize our students and they won't penalize our coaches.
(01:45):
They will not find us to be unsportsmanlike when we
assert that girls' sports are for girls. And we think
this is a tremendous victory.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
So I have some questions about the practical execution of this. Okay,
So if you have a girls volleyball team that shows
up to play a different school and they have a
male biological mail on their team, what does that mean
in terms of I mean if you forfeit the match.
Do you see what I'm saying, Like, how does this
work practically?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Sure? Yeah, we needn't see this play out nationally. Right,
prior to this settlement, CHASA could have determined that our
decision to forfeit our choice not to engage in an
unfair competition. They could have determined that that was unsportsmanlike
or that that constituted gross misconduct. They could have even
(02:35):
put the coach's coaching license in play. So we have
secured protection for our athletes and our coaches that a
forfeit would simply be a forfeit, a loss on our record.
It wouldn't disqualify our students from postseason play, and it
wouldn't disqualify our coaches from further coaching opportunities. So that's
why we characterize this as a big win for our students,
(02:59):
our student athletes, and for the people that coach them.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
So you guys have clarity, you have there's how many
districts we're in this.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
I have the list right here. Well, so there are
four school districts and four individual schools that participated as plaintiffs.
But we genuinely believe this applies across the state. To
one hundred and seventy eight districts and all of the
schools that they that they operate.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
I wouldn't ask this, Peter, because I'm a little unclear
about So Chassis said, essentially, you have to let transgender
students play, but you also have to accommodate girls sports.
But they did not offer any kind of framework of
how that would practically work. So if you had come
up and said, Okay, we're expecting transgender students to play
in a new open category that you haven't created yet,
(03:44):
so they literally just said, you guys, fix it, and
then we'll just sit over here and not do anything.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Right, So they both wanted to pass the buck to
districts and schools to take responsibility, but they also wanted
to reserve the right to sanction us if we came
up with a solution that they didn't approve, and so
they I mean, really, this is a lack of responsibility
on Chassis part in two directions. On the one hand,
(04:14):
they didn't want to set the standards themselves, they wanted
to leave that on us, And on the other hand,
they wanted to retain the right to second guess our
decisions and sanction our students and their coaches in case
they disagreed with our solution. So that's why this settlement
was so important and it was worth driving hard because
(04:34):
this protects teams that are competing right now, and this
obviously will protect student athletes and coaches into the future.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
The thing that still kind of stinks, and I realized
there's no perfect solutions, and maybe we'll get there eventually
with some of the lawsuits that are currently going to
be heard by the Supreme Court about similar issues. But ultimately,
if you are playing against multiple teams that have and
this is so unlikely to happen, to be clear, okay,
this is so unlikely to happen, multiple teams with biological
(05:02):
mails on there, then your student athletes do suffer because
they get a series of losses.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
That is a correct possible outcome, but we think it's
a low probability outcome because just as we're seeing even
in other jurisdictions, we're seeing this in Droup of Valley,
California and in other places as well. As common sense
is ascendant, we will see not only would our athletes
(05:29):
be impacted, but the teammates of that that transgender athlete
would also be impacted, they would lose the opportunity to compete.
And we know that participation in athletics, this is one
of the great principles of Title nine. Participation in athletics
is meaningful in practice and in competition, and in competing
for championships and in competing for scholarships. So the whole
(05:52):
opportunity is comprehensive. And when our student athletes take the
court or take the we don't want them to be
worried about how they might be mischaracterized. We want them
to compete and win and earn scholarships and learn the
leadership lessons that both victory and defeat have to offer,
(06:13):
or if it doesn't really teach you any lessons. So
we want our students to be able to compete, and
we think we have preserved that opportunity through this settle.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Well, I'm hoping to your point. I do hope that
CHASSA sort of just extends this to all of the
schools in Colorado. What's interesting to me is that CHASSA
has put themselves in direct opposition to the Trump administration. Actually,
I think they haven't put themselves because they basically tried
to punt it. If they had taken a strong stand
one way or the other. If it was the other,
(06:41):
they would have really been at odds and they may
have been sued and forced to explain themselves in a
Title nine situation. Maybe that's why they punted it to you, guys.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
I think that's possible. CHASSA is a membership organization, which
means that they're not directly accountable to the state legislature.
They're not really accountable to the Colorado Department of Education
or the State Board of Education. They're really accountable to
their members. And we know that lots of CHASSA member
districts appreciate and affirm the position that we have taken.
(07:13):
But if you're a smaller, especially a small rural district,
you might not have the resources to take on chass
or take on the Attorney General. And so we are
honored to have been able to carry this banner. We
appreciate our fellow district's Academy District twenty here in Olpaso County,
Colorado Spring School District eleven, the Montezuma Cortes School District.
(07:34):
They stood with us, as did individual schools, some charter schools.
An association schools called the Boss we stood together not
just on behalf of our student athletes and our coaches,
but really on behalf. We hope that this is inspirational
and serves as a template across Colorado and across the country.
So one last question.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
The lawsuit against Phil Wiser and Jared Polis continue.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
I'm not Jared Pulis.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
The Attorney General's office and the Civil Rights Commission continues,
though correct.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
We continue to hold the Colorado Attorney General and the
Colorado Civil Rights Division as plaintiffs. We will proceed because
we really need our day in federal court. Chassit either
invited us or pushed us to pursue a federal court solution,
and we took them up on their invitation. I don't
(08:24):
think they were bluffing. I think they were genuinely in
a bind as well, and so we want this to
We want to seek clarity not just for District forty
nine and the other plaintiff districts. We really want to
seek clarity for Colorado and for the country.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
D forty nine, Superintendent, I appreciate your making time for
me and explaining everything for us. Keep up the good
fight and we'll check in after you win the next round.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Thanks Mandy, we appreciate it.
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