Idaho single-sex classrooms violated federal law

Officials with the U.S. Department of Education say an Idaho school district violated federal law when it segregated elementary students into single-sex classrooms.

Several years ago, Middleton Heights Elementary was among the dozens of public schools targeted by the American Civil Liberties Union over whether single-sex learning should be continued.

According to the Department of Education, Idaho school officials violated Title IX – a federal law banning sex discrimination in education – because they failed to adequately justify the need to separate boys from the girls for all school subjects in all grades.

The Middleton school implemented the change in 2006, but agreed to stop doing so this year as a result of the federal investigation.

School officials did not immediately return request for comment. Middleton is about 30 miles west of Boise.