Preventing Sexual Harassment
COACHES’ CORNER: Procedures
Recommendations for Preventing Sexual Harassment Claims
in Schools and Athletics
Teachers and athletics personnel should:
- Never use sexually explicit language or tell sexually explicit or off-color jokes in the presence of students.
- Never display sexually explicit pictures or materials on school property and should never show such materials to students under any circumstances.
- Avoid engaging in excessively personal conversations with students, in person, on the phone, or by texting, email, or through social networking including such conversations late at night.
- Avoid sending excessively personal letters, cards, gifts or email messages to students.
- Avoid commenting on students’ physical appearance, including manner of dress and physical attributes.
- Avoid, to the greatest extent possible, physical contact with or touching of students.
- Avoid giving students rides home alone or even in groups where eventually only one student will remain alone in the car with the adult.
- Avoid off-school-property, one-on-one meetings alone with students, especially in the home of the student or of the adult.
- Never plan or take unchaperoned school or athletic trips. Even on properly chaperoned trips, they should exercise a greater degree of caution and propriety regarding interaction with students on the trip.
- Never date students under any circumstances. Issues of power differential, consent, credibility and appearance of impropriety make such relationships untenable.