A former Cherry Creek High School teacher and running coach filed a federal lawsuit against the school district and former colleagues, alleging he was wrongfully terminated after reporting sexual harassment of his athletes and discriminated against for his military status.

Craig Clark, currently an active duty military member, coached cross country and track since 2016 and then began teaching social studies in 2021, at Cherry Creek High School about 11 miles south of downtown Denver.

Clark’s lawsuit, filed Monday, claims he reported sexual harassment of students in 2023, which created a hostile work environment with his superiors — leading to emotional distress and termination, according to a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado.

The lawsuit also accuses the school and school district of violating the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act when Clark was allegedly fired amid military deployment.

A school district spokesperson told The Denver Gazette Wednesday that officials “strongly dispute all of the allegations made in the complaint.”

“Mr. Clark was non-renewed due to concerns about his judgment,” the spokesperson said, insisting “this issue has already been investigated by the Department of Labor and no USERRA violations were found.”

Hazen Law, LLC and the Law Office of Craig W. Clark are representing Clark and two other unidentified minors, a boy and a girl, as plaintiffs. Cherry Creek School District officials, alongside Mile High Sports Camp and 11 individuals, are the listed defendants in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges several track and field athletes, including Clark’s daughter, approached him in April 2023 reporting the assistant track and field coach sexually harassed them. At the time, Clark taught social studies and served as an unpaid assistant cross country coach and paid track and field coach, according to the lawsuit.

Among the sexual assault accusations:  the assistant coach gave unwanted hugs, inappropriately touched athletes and engaged in after-practice stalking.

Clark shared these accusations with his superiors, according to the lawsuit, including the head track and field coach, who allegedly dismissed his concerns, according to the lawsuit.

Some athletes quit training sessions with the assistant coach in fear of further harassment, the lawsuit added. An internal sexual assault investigation led to the suspension of the accused assistant coach.

The lawsuit claimed accusations led to a dispute between Clark and the head coach, who allegedly told Clark she hadn’t seen any misconduct and retaliated. 

“Clark then reported that he felt CCHS coaches and teachers failed their athletes,” according to the lawsuit, adding the head coach “confronted Clark and accused him of always judging her negatively” and “made her look bad.”

Disagreements with various other complaints allegedly led to a “hostile work environment” between Clark, the head coach and top school officials, the lawsuit said.

Some disagreements also occurred during pre-season training at the Mile High Sports Camp in January 2024. A month later, the CCHS athletic director, who was also the owner of Mile High, fired Clark due to “a difference in coaching philosophies,” the lawsuit said.

Following his firing, several student athletes protested with shirts that read “I run for Clark.”

“He changed so many students’ and kids’ lives, this is a tremendous loss,” student athletes said in a petition written in the lawsuit. “His impact on the JV and Varsity kids have changed the team as a whole.”

That petition garnered 496 signatures, according to the lawsuit.

While employed with the school district, Clark also served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. The lawsuit claims the school and district violated federal law when Clark wasn’t restored as a paid assistant coach when he returned from a deployment in 2021.

Before a deployment in late May 2024, CCHS officials fired Clark from teaching stemming from an incident alleging he ordered a hotel room and allowed athletes to borrow a van he owned to attend the 2022 cross country state meet.

Clark is seeking unspecified monetary damages to include compensatory and consequential damages for emotional distress, suffering, humiliation, loss of reputation, loss of life enjoyment, mental anguish and non-economic damages to be determined at trial, according to the lawsuit.