By THE ALASKA STORY
Feb. 15, 2026 – The US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has launched a federal investigation into the Puyallup School District in Washington state over how it responded to a reported sexual assault involving a female high school wrestler and a transgender student competitor during a girls’ wrestling match in December.
In an official press release Friday, the Department said it is conducting a directed investigation to determine whether the district violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the federal civil-rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs receiving federal funding. OCR’s review will assess whether the district failed to adequately respond to the assault allegation, allowed males to compete in female sports, and permitted male students to access locker rooms designated for female students.
The alleged incident occurred on Dec. 6, during a girls’ wrestling match involving a 16-year-old sophomore at Rogers High School. According to the federal notice, the female athlete reported being sexually assaulted during the match by her opponent, who was a transgender student competing in the girls’ division and identified as male at birth. The wrestler says she did not know her opponent was biologically male at the time of the match.
The athlete’s family says she immediately informed school officials and her coach of the assault two days after the match, but that the district did not take meaningful action for nearly two months. Pierce County law enforcement was not formally notified of the allegation until Jan. 30.
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in the department’s announcement that the allegations are “sickening” and emphasized the Biden Administration’s commitment to enforcing Title IX, adding that schools must ensure women and girls have equal, safe access to educational opportunities and that sexual assault claims are “addressed promptly and fully.”
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office and the district have confirmed that they are also conducting an investigation into the incident. Video of the match circulated on social media shows the student wrestler calling for help during the bout, and law enforcement officials are reviewing the footage as part of their inquiry.
At least a dozen female athletes reportedly lodged complaints with school administrators about the presence of male students in girls’ locker rooms prior to the federal probe, though the district has not publicly addressed those reports in detail.
The investigation is ongoing. No criminal charges have been publicly, and the transgender student has not been publicly identified by authorities.
Washington female wrestler alleges she was sexually assaulted by transgender wrestler
4 thoughts on “Department of Education opens investigation into Puyallup School District over alleged assault in girls’ wrestling match”
They will investigate themselves and, strangely, find they did nothing wrong at all
DISGUSTING!!!! ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING THAT THE OFFICIALS SAT ON THEIR BUTTS AND PICKED THEIR NOSES!! Males should not be in female sports, bathrooms or locker rooms!!! Period!!!
The FBI should investigate everything, including the school district, the Sheriff’s office, and, to the extent they blocked or hindered the investigation of the crime, the district attorney’s office. Local and State agencies should be required to enforce the law without the “resistance” crap or face consequences. The time for playing nice has come to an end.
So, let me get this straight….. For decades, many, if not most school districts said it was ok for girls to wrestle on boy’s teams because, well, ” there is no girls team”. Somehow, that was just fine. Many boys lost matches by default because they refused to wrestle with girls. Assault is assault, and it should never happen, however, to me, anyone who is ok with girls wrestling on boy’s teams, but not ok with a tranny wrestling on a girls team is an absolute hypocrite.