U.S. Education Department investigates Laramie Co. schools

CHEYENNE — Laramie County’s largest school district is still being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education a little less than two years after a student filed a complaint accusing the district of discrimination against African-American and disabled students. 

In a letter addressed to former LCSD1 Superintendent John Lyttle and dated Dec. 7, 2017, department officials wrote the parties had reached a settlement and would close investigations into whether the district discriminated against the student for his disability and on the basis of sex and race. 

But the department is still exploring whether the district “systemically” discriminates against African-American and disabled students, according to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights’ website. 

LCSD1 Superintendent Boyd Brown said Thursday the district was fully complying with the investigation. 

“We’re working through that process with (the department) as we move forward,” he said.

“We’ve given them everything they’ve asked for,” Brown said. 

The department doesn’t disclose who made the initial complaint, but the 2017 letter refers to an accusation that the district “(failed) to provide a prompt and equitable resolution to the student’s ... teacher’s sexual assault of him, of which the district had notice.” 

It was filed in the wake of former Freedom Elementary School teacher Anna Andersen’s pleas of no contest in 2016 to two counts of sexual abuse of a minor and subsequent sentence of eight to 12 years in prison.

She was accused of having a relationship with a boy, born in 1999, from 2012-14. One of the charges stemmed from an incident at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center where staff witnessed “inappropriate contact” between Andersen and the boy, and another outlined the two having sex at Andersen’s house. 

The Department of Education letter also refers to a settlement reached between the district and student. 

In October 2017, LCSD1 and the boy’s guardian reached a settlement in a federal court case accusing the district of failing to protect the boy from Andersen’s abuse, even after he reported the inappropriate relationship to district officials. 

The district and attorneys for the boy declined to release the settlement amount.