The passing of Joe Paterno has brought the Penn State sex abuse scandal back into the media spotlight. As a coach and physical education teacher it makes me wonder what we as educators/coaches can do to protect ourselves from false accusations. I am not saying by any means that the accusations against Sandusky are false, rather I am saying all it takes is one student with hard feelings to ruin the career of a professional. I can recall discussing a local case in one of my Undergraduate classes where the teacher lost his job simply due to allegations. There was no evidence or proof but the school didn't need that to force him to retire. Most schools don't want to be associated with any teacher who has any allegations against him/her. So.... How do we protect ourselves? I was always taught keep office doors open when meeting with students, use appropriate language, if you absolutely need to touch a student you ask them first if it is ok. All of these are great ways to ward off accusations but I think its safe to say that we are never really safe from possibility of being accused....
