Coaches meet for special training
The most important boundary in high school sports is no longer the goal line.
Instead, the most important boundary is the one being drawn between high school coaches and their athletes.
About 100 Spokane-area coaches gathered last week at Central Valley High School for training on sexual harassment and how to establish safer relationships with students.
Coaches and teachers say they have to worry that a simple gesture of support, like a hug, will be misread as a sexually inappropriate act.
“I think it’s really sad. Some kids just need that pat on the back, but we can’t do that because it could be misconstrued,” said Kara Moffatt, a middle school teacher who coaches varsity girls’ volleyball at Lakeside High School in Nine Mile Falls.
The session was hosted by the Central Valley School District, but all area coaches were invited to attend.
It was organized in part because of a new requirement for CV coaches starting next year. All coaches in the Spokane Valley district will be required to take some similar form of sexual harassment training.
Jerry Painter, an attorney for the Washington Education Association, which represents about 76,000 members, advised the coaches on proper touching, the basics of sexual harassment laws, bullying and hazing.
“As a coach and a teacher, you have to be aware that you are visible out there in the community and things can be taken out of context,” said Lise Louer, assistant superintendent for Central Valley. “This is to remind those who work with kids what is expected.”
Washington coaches are required to undergo criminal background checks, but formal training for sexual harassment is not always a requirement. Teachers usually get training when they are hired, but not all coaches are certificated teachers.
Many of the Central Valley’s 232 coaches – who filled 300 coaching positions last year – hold teaching certificates. But some are volunteers whose primary job is not working with children.
“It’s important that they have access to this training too,” said Judy Wooten, a teacher and coach from Evergreen Middle School. “It really makes us all more aware.”
Coaches, males in particular, are often in the spotlight because of their uniquely close relationship to players and should always be aware of conduct that could be misread.
Painter advised the coaches on situations that might put a teacher at risk of being falsely accused of wrongdoing, like giving a student a ride in a personal vehicle, alone.
“Any time you are teaching kids anything, whether it be science or baseball, it’s important to have this kind of information,” said Wayne McKnight, the athletic director at West Valley High School.
“I’ve been around this business for 31 years, and I’ve watched it all kind of evolve. There have definitely been changes caused because of problems that were out there.”
Sometimes lines are crossed, and communities are devastated.
In one of the most blatant recent cases, a 31-year-old Stevens County coach and teacher was arrested in June after getting a 15-year-old female student pregnant. Even after repeated counseling by school administrators for inappropriate behavior with students, Robert Swalstad was allowed to keep teaching at Columbia High School in Hunters, Wash.
Swalstad is now facing misdemeanor charges of communication with a minor for immoral purposes, even though he moved to Wyoming and married the now 16-year-old girl, who had the couple’s child in January. His Washington teaching certificate was revoked.
Dana Schmerer, a teacher for Central Valley and a former softball coach for West Valley, was put on leave in May pending an investigation into allegations he may have had a sexual relationship with a female athlete.
A parent raised concerns about Schmerer’s relationship with the student after finding the two coming out of a darkened shed on the softball field. He was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, but the state is still investigating.
Painter said about 25 percent of the allegations brought against the WEA members he represents stem from false allegations. For example, a student can say a teacher looks down her blouse all the time, or allege that a teacher grabbed her by the elbow and accidentally touched her breast.
Another 30 percent to 35 percent of the allegations result from clear misconduct, and the teacher or coach is counseled to leave the profession. The other 30 percent to 35 percent are because teachers crossed a line unintentionally, simply because they weren’t prepared.
“A lot of people think in terms of common sense, but it has nothing to do with common sense,” Painter said.
Perhaps the most surprising advice for coaches who attended last week’s meeting was about touching students.
Painter told them not to touch kids on the head or on the elbow. If you have to hug a student, do it from the side, he said. Don’t ever put both hands on both shoulders of a student. If you must touch them to guide them down a hallway or get their attention, touch them on one shoulder.
“It provides all education employees with invaluable information on how to protect both themselves and the students they work closely with,” said Butch Walter, CV’s activities director.
Lakeside’s Moffatt said she left last week’s meeting feeling aware, and a little sad.
“I have some of my players for three years, I hug my players because I’m happy to see them, and sometimes they need a hug,” Moffatt said. “Sometimes I guess as coaches and teachers we’re not able now to give some kids the things they need, because we always have to be careful of what we’re doing. It’s just kind of gotten scary anymore.”