Kimberly Richey
Kimberly Richey is the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education, leading its Office for Civil Rights. All of her entries fall in 2026 and record the handling of civil rights complaints and investigations, including which categories of complaint the office would continue to pursue. She is the one registered actor in the archive with no Wikipedia article; she appears there only inside lists of departmental appointments.
2026 Events (11)
U.S. Education Department opened Title VI investigation into Milwaukee schools over race-conscious discipline
On August 19, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights notified Milwaukee Public Schools that it is investigating whether the district's student-discipline practices improperly use race, one of two Title VI investigations the department opened that day. The department's statement, issued alongside new Title VI guidance barring race-conscious discipline, said Milwaukee education leaders had "derided facially neutral school policies as reflecting systemic 'whiteness,'" without specifying what triggered the probe.
Washington Post investigation found Education Dept. froze civil rights probes into school racial, sexual harassment for 18 months
A Washington Post investigation published August 9, 2026 found the Trump administration had indefinitely frozen Education Department Office for Civil Rights investigations into racial and sexual harassment in schools inherited from the Biden administration, while pursuing cases aligned with its own priorities. Of thousands of pending investigations, the office completed only three resolution agreements involving racial harassment and none for sexual harassment in 18 months, compared with 72 total in 2024, after cutting OCR staff by more than half and closing seven of twelve regional offices.
Education Department rescinded disparate-impact standard under Title VI, ending federal scrutiny of racially disproportionate school discipline
On July 23, 2026, the Department of Education eliminated disparate-impact provisions from its Title VI civil-rights regulations, effective immediately and without public comment, requiring that school policies show intentional discrimination before federal civil-rights enforcement can apply. The rescission stripped the government's primary tool for addressing school- discipline disparities disproportionately affecting Black students, and was condemned by 60 civil-rights and educational advocacy organizations.
Department of Education opened Title IX investigations into Maryland state agency and three school districts over trans-inclusive policies
On June 23, 2026, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened Title IX investigations into the Maryland State Department of Education and three of the state's largest districts — Montgomery County, Prince George's County, and Frederick County Public Schools — over guidance and policies that let transgender students use facilities and join athletic teams matching their gender identity. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey called gender-identity-based access "deeply troubling" and pledged to "take appropriate action to ensure compliance," announcing the probes on the fifty-fourth anniversary of Title IX. The investigations continued a coordinated wave of OCR enforcement against trans-inclusive school policies across multiple states.
Department of Education opened Title IX investigations into three Michigan school districts over trans-inclusive sports and locker room policies
The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened Title IX civil rights investigations on June 19, 2026, into three Michigan school districts — Ann Arbor Public Schools, Monroe Public Schools, and Chippewa Valley School District — for allowing transgender students to participate in sports and use locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. The DOE framed the investigations as protecting "the rights of cisgender students," asserting that trans-inclusive policies violate Title IX as reinterpreted by the current administration. The action was part of a coordinated wave of federal enforcement targeting schools with trans-inclusive policies during Pride Month, following a similar investigation opened against a North Carolina district the prior day.
Department of Education opened a Title IX investigation into Smith College over its transgender admissions policy
On May 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened a Title IX investigation into Smith College, a private all-women's college in Massachusetts, over its policy of admitting transgender women. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said "an all-women's college loses all meaning if it is admitting biological males," asserting that Title IX's single-sex exception applies on the basis of biological sex, not gender identity. The probe extended a coordinated wave of OCR enforcement using federal civil-rights machinery to pressure institutions over trans-inclusive policies.
Education Department terminates six civil-rights agreements protecting transgender students
On April 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education announced it had terminated six civil-rights resolution agreements — reached with five school districts and one college under the Obama and Biden administrations — that protected transgender students from discrimination. The terminations end federal enforcement of obligations such as staff training on students' names and pronouns and access to facilities matching gender identity; in one case the department went further, requiring Delaware Valley School District (PA) to affirmatively roll back its antidiscrimination protections, which its board did in late March.
Education Department found Colorado's Jefferson County schools violated Title IX, threatened funding over trans-inclusive policies
On March 13, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights concluded that Jefferson County Public Schools in Colorado violated Title IX by letting students access overnight accommodations, facilities, and sports teams based on gender identity rather than biological sex. OCR gave the district 10 days to sign a resolution agreement adopting biology-based eligibility rules or face enforcement, a finding Jeffco disputed as resting on a data error mistaking coaches, trainers, and mascots for male athletes on girls' teams.
Education Department found San Jose State violated Title IX over transgender volleyball player, threatened funding
On January 28, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights concluded that San Jose State University violated Title IX by allowing a transgender athlete to compete on its women's volleyball team and by allegedly retaliating against players who objected. The department offered SJSU a settlement requiring it to adopt binary definitions of sex, restore athletic records and titles it said were misappropriated, and send personalized apologies to every woman on the 2022-2024 indoor volleyball roster and the 2023 beach volleyball team, warning that rejection could bring a Justice Department lawsuit and the loss of federal funding.
Education Dept. found Connetquot school district violated Title VI by dropping its Native American mascot to comply with state law
On January 22, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights concluded that Connetquot Central School District on Long Island, New York, violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by renaming its "Thunderbirds" mascot to "T-Birds" under a settlement complying with a 2023 New York State Education Department regulation banning Native American mascots and imagery in public schools. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said the district "engaged in race- and national-origin-based discrimination" by abandoning the name and ordered it to revert to "Thunderbirds" and all associated logos; New York's Education Department called the finding "a mockery of our nation's civil rights laws."
Education Department opened 18 Title IX investigations into schools and colleges across 10 states over transgender-athlete policies
On January 14, 2026 — the day after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on state laws barring transgender athletes from women's sports — the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened Title IX investigations into 18 K-12 school districts, colleges, and one state education department across ten states: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington. The investigations targeted policies letting students compete in school sports according to their gender identity rather than sex. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said OCR was "aggressively pursuing" the entities and would "leave no stone unturned."