VENTURA : Suspended Coach Faces New Allegations

The Ventura Unified School District plans to file additional accusations today against the former Ventura High School swim coach accused of having sex with two students, school officials said.

Although officials refused Tuesday to give details of the new allegations to be filed against former coach Dale Hahn, they said they hope that the additional accusations will bolster the district’s case for firing him.

Hahn taught chemistry and coached the water polo and swim teams at Ventura High for 20 years before he was put on leave with pay in the fall. He was suspended without pay in January.

To fire Hahn, the district must present its allegations against him at a state hearing, which will be held in Ventura in July, school district attorney Mary Jo McGrath said.

In initial allegations filed in January, the district said the teacher had sex with two students--a girl who graduated in 1989 and another who was enrolled at the school as recently as the fall. The district also alleged that Hahn made advances and sexually suggestive comments to students and that, despite repeated warnings, used profanity while coaching the water polo and swim teams.

But school officials are concerned that their case may be weakened by a state law that forbids districts from firing a teacher for actions that took place more than four years ago, McGrath said.

That law could prevent the district from using as evidence the testimony from a young woman who said she had sex with Hahn while she was a Ventura High student in the fall of 1988.

Although the district has also accused Hahn of having sex with a student last fall, that allegation was based on a male student’s testimony about a female friend. The male student has so far refused to identify the girl, and no female student has stepped forward to verify the story, McGrath said.

Efforts to reach Hahn for comment Tuesday were not successful.