Panel Orders That Ventura Coach Be Fired

Ventura High Coach Bret Taylor has been fired because he used his position as a teacher to gain access to female students at the campus, behavior that “appeared almost predatory in nature,” an administrative law panel has decided.

Three former Ventura High students alleged Taylor kissed them or sought dates with them over a two-year period beginning in the fall of 1990, according to the panel’s order to dismiss Taylor, made public Wednesday.

And the 28-year-old teacher talked about his personal problems with a fourth student who he believed was infatuated with him, according to the document. Taylor was suspended from his job in July after the allegations surfaced.

Taylor “fostered an environment in which some female students thought of him as a friend, peer and potential dating partner, rather than a teacher,” the panel found.

Although there is no evidence Taylor had sexual intercourse with any of the students, his conduct is immoral and unfit for a teacher, the 19-page document states. He made the problem worse by lying and trying to cover up his abuses when Ventura police interviewed him in March, 1994, said the three-member panel, which included a representative for Taylor.

Taylor and his attorney could not be reached for comment. But his supporters in the past have defended his actions, saying he did little more than kiss two students and is sorry for his mistakes.

Taylor, who worked part time as a football and baseball coach at Ventura High, has a month to appeal the administrative panel’s decision to the Ventura County Superior Court, said Mary Jo McGrath, the school district’s attorney.

His termination may not be stayed during an appeal, McGrath said.

Ventura schools Supt. Joseph Spirito said he had mixed feelings about the panel’s decision.

“It is not a day to celebrate when one of your teachers is fired,” said Spirito, who filed 29 charges of inappropriate conduct against Taylor last fall.

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“But the court has spoken,” he said. “And our policy of zero tolerance for abuse and harassment against students has been validated.”

Spirito said no criminal charges are pending against Taylor, who taught most recently at Balboa Middle School while coaching part time at the high school. Taylor is the third athletic coach at Ventura High to lose his job in a little over two years because of inappropriate sexual behavior toward students.

Former football Coach Harvey Kochel lost his job in September, 1992, for having sex with a 15-year-old student. And swimming Coach Dale Hahn resigned in June, 1994, after school officials accused him of sleeping with two students. Kochel served a year in prison, but Hahn faced no criminal charges.

An 18-page document attached to the panel’s order lays out the case against Taylor, detailing how the teacher approached students and then pursued relationships with them. Most of the incidents are said to have occurred in the 1990-91 school year.

During that year, he invited one female student to his home to watch television and asked the girl, a senior, if she would date him after she graduated, the panel found.

Taylor offered to help a second female student complete a history report that same year, bringing her to his home one weekend, the document states. He kissed her several times that day, the girl said, including one open-mouthed kiss that took place while lying on his bed.

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Taylor made clear that he wanted to pursue the relationship after the teen-ager graduated, but the student declined his offer, the panel found.

Another student told the panel that Taylor kissed her after driving her to the beach and sitting in his car for 30 minutes. And he fostered a personal relationship with a fourth girl by revealing he was troubled by his parents’ divorce, the panel found.

Although Taylor admitted much of the conduct, he downplayed its significance before the administrative panel, McGrath said. But the panel did not equivocate at all in its decision that Taylor had abused his power, she said.

“When you’re French-kissing children in your bedroom, it is definitely a no-no,” she said.