Cherry Creek Schools violated federal law when the district failed to provide 11 deaf or hard-of-hearing students with sign-language interpreters at the start of the 2025-26 academic year, a new investigation by the Colorado Department of Education found.
The agency issued its decision — which was made public Wednesday and found Cherry Creek was out of compliance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — after a parent of a 10-year-old student filed a complaint in October.
The investigation determined that 11 students had individualized education programs, or IEPs, that required Cherry Creek to provide them with sign-language interpreters at school. But the district did not adequately staff the building — an elementary school that is not identified — with interpreters for about three months, according to the 19-page report.
As a result, Cherry Creek did not provide students with disabilities the “free appropriate public education” that children have a right to under federal law, state investigators wrote.
“The IDEA (Act) does not excuse noncompliance with IEP implementation due to staff shortages,” state investigators wrote.
Cherry Creek was temporarily unable to provide interpreters for students at the school because the district needed to renegotiate contracts with several staffing agencies last summer, district spokeswoman Ashley Verville said in a statement.
“As soon as the Department of Special Populations recognized these services couldn’t be provided for students, they made families aware of the issue and worked with families to identify alternative supports,” she said. “As the CDE decision states, school staff made every effort possible to provide support for these students in the interim.”
The school at the center of the report employed only one interpreter, but used staffing agencies to fill remaining positions to ensure there were enough interpreters to cover each grade level with a student who required their services, according to the education department.
But Cherry Creek ended its contract with a staffing agency in early August, a week before students were expected to return to class for the new school year, according to the report.
The school required five interpreters for the 2025-26 academic year, but employees found out on Aug. 6 that four interpreters supplied by the staffing agency were no longer available, the report said.
School employees notified parents the day before school started that their children — who ranged from kindergarteners to fifth-graders — would not have access to interpreters. Three employees who knew sign language “attempted to push into students’ classrooms as needed to provide communication support,” the report said.
But teachers told state investigators that the three employees, who had other duties, were not enough to meet students’ needs, and despite their efforts, “all students were adversely affected by the lack of interpretation services,” the state found.
Two students were “substantially limited in their ability to participate in classwork,” according to the report, which found the children were unable to understand instructions given or participate in class discussions.
A different student — a third-grader with autism — began having behavioral concerns because the child was frustrated at not being able to communicate at school, according to the report. A fourth student — also a third-grader — had “significant attendance issues,” according to the report.
“The CDE recognizes the value of the work school staff performed on short notice to address unexpected vacancies,” investigators wrote. “Specifically, these three signing-proficient staff members performed work far beyond their job descriptions to support students during an exceptionally difficult school year.”
Still, “there was a shortfall in sign language interpretation services for each of the students,” the report said.
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The education department is ordering Cherry Creek to take several steps as a result of investigators’ findings, including submitting a corrective action plan by March 17.
The district must also provide all affected students with the opportunity to take compensatory lessons, which are to be provided at Cherry Creek’s expense and taught using American Sign Language or with an interpreter. The lessons must also have at least 50 hours of student engagement time and give the children the opportunity to interact with their peers, according to the report.
“CDE further determined this is not a systemic issue, and the district is developing and implementing a corrective action plan to make up for the loss of these services and to address potential staffing issues in the future,” Verville, the district spokeswoman, said in her statement.
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