Policy for ladies locker room

[dbhost]

There is insufficient information on which to provide a response here...

Are there separate facilities where the coach can have a team meeting with his team?

Admittedly it does seem creepy, but as long as he isn't in there while the girls are disrobed or anything, I don't see a huge deal. Are there other adults there I.E. female coaches etc...?

[sweensdv]

...........
The problem is, this guy walked like a duck and quacked like a duck. He shouldn't be too surprised when people point at him and yell "duck!"

What in the heck does that mean? Now you've really got me confused. Is this guy a duck,....... a pervert............ or someone that may have made a rather large error in judgment? If the later is the case then may I suggest that your school district is really the one at fault here for not having safeguards in place in the first place. If an error in judgment is the real culprit here then marking this individual with a Scarlet P for the rest of his life is not only wrong but way over kill.

Truly this is really one of those cases that never should have happened. It's almost inconceivable that situations like this one even happen. Someone or some group of people flat dropped the ball. With the world as it is today and all that has happened in the past why is it that not much changes until after the fact? Unfortunate but sadly all too often true.

[cgallery]

What in the heck does that mean? Now you've really got me confused. Is this guy a duck,....... a pervert............ or someone that may have made a rather large error in judgment?

My point is, there is only one person that could possibly know the answer to that question, and he ain't talking.

I'd love to live in a world where we say "I guess we'll never know" and leave it at that. But that would be a Utopian world as far as sexual predators go, wouldn't it?

They could go from one school to another, march into the XX locker rooms, and them chime "oh, sorry, am I not supposed to be in here?" when confronted.

The rule that men don't belong in the locker rooms is as much to protect the guy as it is the girls.

Either the guy is too dense to understand that, or he is playing a game. In either case, his superiors deserve a heads-up.

Am I wrong?

[cgallery]

There is insufficient information on which to provide a response here...

Are there separate facilities where the coach can have a team meeting with his team?

Admittedly it does seem creepy, but as long as he isn't in there while the girls are disrobed or anything, I don't see a huge deal. Are there other adults there I.E. female coaches etc...?

The visiting teams are provided with NO locker room facilities. Only a restroom. They are not supposed to used the locker rooms at all. That is apparently fairly typical in this area.

And I don't know if you read the entire thread or not (kinda long), but at least two girls from the swim team were apparently undressed when they came around the corner and saw the coach (and he saw them).

That's my point in all of this. If you go into a girls locker room, I don't know why you'd be surprised to see undressed girls. That's why they put doors on them.

This isn't a meeting room. It is a locker room.

[dbhost]

The visiting teams are provided with NO locker room facilities. Only a restroom. They are not supposed to used the locker rooms at all. That is apparently fairly typical in this area.

And I don't know if you read the entire thread or not (kinda long), but at least two girls from the swim team were apparently undressed when they came around the corner and saw the coach (and he saw them).

That's my point in all of this. If you go into a girls locker room, I don't know why you'd be surprised to see undressed girls. That's why they put doors on them.

This isn't a meeting room. It is a locker room.

I must have missed the part of there being young ladies in a state of undress in the locker room. That sort of changes the entire dynamic of the thing.

With that bit of knowledge safely tucked away, this is at best an idiot coach exercising extremely poor judgement. In which case he shouldn't be in charge of / teaching children. At worst this is an expression of pedophilia and the coach shouldn't be around children in the first place.

I was rather seeing a scenario of a facility lacking proper meeting space for the team. Most coaches give their teams the various coaching talks in the locker room. Now the fact that it is a MALE coach, and a girls swim team, well this causes some trouble. I can see only 1 scenario where a male coach in the girls locker room (barring emergencies such as tending to an injured student) would be acceptable, and I wasn't sure this wasn't the case... That scenario would be...

#1. No other meeting space assigned to the team for the coach to give his talk. Including no bus big enough to facilitate such a meeting.
#2. Female coaches in attendance, prior to the male coach being permitted in to the locker room to verify the young ladies being fully clothed.
#3. The locker room being closed to everyone else other than the swim team in question.
#4. The male coach not being permitted into the locker room until ALL of the young ladies in question are fully clothed, and assembled for such a meeting.

Like I said in my prior post, it seemed awfully creepy, but was possibly just a misunderstanding. With the new, or newly seen information. I am somewhat surprised this individual is not up on charges of indecency with a child...

I am NOT one of those sicko types that likes kids in, well "that way"... But with the world we live in, I am VERY careful to steer clear of ANYTHING that could put me into a position where even the appearance of impropriety may result. The damage to a persons legal and professional reputation from the simple appearance of impropriety is simply devastating. The rules separating the sexes in places such as locker rooms, and restrooms etc... are there to protect the men, women, boys and girls that are there. Not just one or the other...

[JimD]

I think the most you do to the offending coach is inform his boss. If there is a chance he did not know the arrangement of this locker room or that he could encounter undressed young ladies, then I would give him the benefit of the doubt - once. The reason to inform his employer is in case the once already occurred.

I think it's really jumping to conclusions to assume he is some sort of peeping Tom. If his players were all dressed while he was talking to them, it seems like there is a good chance it is an honest mistake and best forgotten.

I also agree whole-heartedly that it benefits everybody for there to be a sign posted to avoid future confusion. The young ladies using this locker room deserve at least that much.

I was in high school a lot of years ago - nearly 40. Even in those days, the girls had a problem with the type of shower you describe. Ours was that way but they told us that they made the school put up plastic curtains between the shower heads. Seems like when the economy improves they need to consider some updating.

Jim

[Ed62]

Any adult male that enters a girls locker room with showers and a dressing area is a threat. I don't care what his intentions were, I think at the very least he has boundary issues, and needs to be watched.

I think that is the distinction I draw from some of you. Some of you seem to think it depends on his intentions. I don't think you know someone's intentions until it is possibly too late. So better he just shouldn't be in there, period.

I think you'll all agree that guys don't belong in areas where girls are showering/dressing. Correct me if I'm wrong.

The problem is, this guy walked like a duck and quacked like a duck. He shouldn't be too surprised when people point at him and yell "duck!"

I agree that it should raise a red flag, but that doesn't mean he should be labeled as a sex offender or anything remotely close to it. This doesn't mean he didn't have anything else going on in his head. It only means he shouldn't be labeled as something that could cause employment/community problems for him without a good reason, which doesn't seem to be the case.

Ed

[cgallery]

I agree that it should raise a red flag, but that doesn't mean he should be labeled as a sex offender or anything remotely close to it. This doesn't mean he didn't have anything else going on in his head. It only means he shouldn't be labeled as something that could cause employment/community problems for him without a good reason, which doesn't seem to be the case.

Ed

Not saying I disagree with you. But...

How would you deal with it? In a way that would catch a guy that does it repeatedly, that is? If he is able to enter girls locker rooms at different schools each time?

If you saw it happen, who would you tell, if anyone?

The question is, what are you going to do with that red flag?

[cgallery]

I may have missed the best option of all.

I've wrongly thought that without letting his school's administration know, that this could go on forever (if it is a behavior and not a moment of stupidity).

But, the girls on his own team witnessed the "incident."

They'll undoubtedly gossip about it to schoolmates. The administration may hear about it without us doing a thing.

The girls may have found it funny and mention at dinner with their parents. But if it happens again, a wise parent will think "I've heard this story before. Once is funny, twice is a concern" and hopefully pickup the phone.

Notifying our school's admin and them calling the coach is as far as we should take it at this point.

[Ed62]

Excellent questions. I think it could be handled in a way where other schools could be aware that this has happened (make it clear this is only a red flag), and maybe it would be in their best interest to keep an eye on him. But I just don't think making a problem for someone who is likely totally innocent of anything but poor judgment, is the answer. If I knew there were other instances where this has happened, it would be reason to let the school authorities, and maybe law enforcement know about it.
Edit: I didn't know you posted again. With the hard questions you asked, it took 3 minutes to ponder the questions, and 2 minutes to type the answer.

Ed

[woodturner]

After further thought and rereading the thread, it appears there is one question that has not been posed.

How did HE react? If I were in that situation, I would immediately turn around, cover my eyes, have someone lead me out of the area and keep my eyes closed until it was safe to open them. I would likely blush and definitely would apologize profusely.

If he stood there gawking, that could be a very bad sign.

[natausch]

It doesn't sound very reasonable that he would bring his team in for a meeting in the hopes that a young woman from the other team would walk into the locker room in a state of undress.

Remember that most of Suburban Milwaukee's schools were built well after the one in question, it is the norm for the privacy areas to exist in those schools.

I'd say a strong policy and a memo regarding visiting teams using locker rooms would be in order, however, beyond talking to his school administrators in a "keep an eye just in case" policy could easily damage this coach's reputation and livlihood, which would be a shame if he is innocent of anything but idiocy.

[cgallery]

How did HE react? If I were in that situation, I would immediately turn around, cover my eyes, have someone lead me out of the area and keep my eyes closed until it was safe to open them. I would likely blush and definitely would apologize profusely.

He ran away, up the stairs. Apparently refused to acknowledge a parent that asked him to stop.

[cgallery]

It doesn't sound very reasonable that he would bring his team in for a meeting in the hopes that a young woman from the other team would walk into the locker room in a state of undress.

Remember that most of Suburban Milwaukee's schools were built well after the one in question, it is the norm for the privacy areas to exist in those schools.

You're saying that if the guy is a perv posing as a coach, that he couldn't possibly know the types of facilities at various schools?

I'd think that would be the first thing he'd research.

[woodturner]

He ran away, up the stairs. Apparently refused to acknowledge a parent that asked him to stop.

First thought is that seems like a reasonable reaction to a "mistake" - but then, if he knew he was doing something wrong, trying to get away would also be an expected reaction.

So I guess his reaction doesn't give me much insight either way. Oh, well.