Ventura School Swim Team Coach May Face Firing : Investigation: Police have begun probe of Dale Hahn. Allegations are unspecified. Several students come to his defense.

Ventura school officials are considering the dismissal of a Ventura High School swim coach who is under investigation for unspecified allegations of misconduct, the coach’s attorney said Wednesday.

The Ventura Police Department also has begun an investigation of Coach Dale Hahn because school officials contacted officers in mid-December, said Sgt. Bob Anderson.

Despite the coach’s troubles, several high school swimmers and their parents came to Hahn’s defense, saying they believe school officials are overreacting and that their coach has done nothing inappropriate.

Hahn’s attorney, Richard Schwab, said the Ventura Unified School District officials notified his client of their investigation in December when they put him on paid leave. Schwab said district officials have not informed him of any specific accusations against his client.

“Suspensions are limited, under the education code, to certain types of charges which would be like immoral conduct and things of that nature, or if you’ve been charged with criminal offenses,” Schwab said.

The attorney said Hahn, a teacher for 20 years in Ventura schools, has done nothing wrong.

“He feels there’s no substance” to the allegations, Schwab said. “He’s never done anything unprofessional, inappropriate or otherwise” toward any student.

The 44-year-old Hahn was at home Wednesday, but declined comment. He teaches chemistry and physical science in addition to coaching water polo and the varsity swim team at Ventura High.

An attorney for the district said the school board in a closed session Tuesday night took the first step toward firing an unidentified teacher and suspending that teacher without pay until the dismissal is final. But attorney Mary Jo McGrath refused to name the teacher.

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Specifically, the board members decided Tuesday to notify the teacher that they intend to suspend and ultimately fire the teacher, McGrath said.

“The district has acted very aggressively and thoroughly to investigate the situation. I think their community should be pleased in the way in which they responded,” she said.

The district’s action comes nearly a year after Ventura High football Coach Harvey Kochel was convicted of having unlawful sex with a 15-year-old student and sentenced to two years in prison.

In the Kochel case, the district came under fire for not taking swift action on longstanding knowledge of inappropriate sexual behavior by the school’s winning football coach.

“You learn from any situation,” Ventura schools Supt. Joseph Spirito said Wednesday. “I think we became more aggressive. I think we became more knowledgeable. The bottom line is, we have a zero-based tolerance of any kind of behavior that puts any of our children in jeopardy or makes them feel uncomfortable.”

In early December, the Ventura school district hired McGrath, an attorney who specializes in investigations leading to dismissals of tenured teachers.

McGrath said the board’s action Tuesday followed her investigation into allegations against the teacher. She described her inquiry as “broad based” and said it involved interviews with about 50 students, former students, teachers and administrators.

Before school administrators can suspend a teacher without pay, McGrath said they must give the teacher the right to request an informal meeting with the district’s personnel director. And the school district cannot fire a teacher without giving the individual an opportunity to have a full hearing by a three-member state Commission on Professional Competence. It could be several months before such a hearing is scheduled, she said.

Meanwhile, Ventura police said they have barely begun their investigation. “At this point, it’s far too early to say if we can establish any criminal acts,” Anderson said.

Some parents and students who know Hahn said they believe the school district has gone too far and acted too quickly. Others say they find it difficult to believe the myriad rumors regarding the veteran coach.

“We do believe that because of this thing with Coach Kochel, they’ve blown this thing way out of proportion and ruined a man’s career,” said Lynn Sousa, the parent of a girl on the swim team.

Two female swimmers said they believe school officials are trying to counter community criticism of their handling of the Coach Kochel situation.

“They’re taking this so seriously and overreacting because of Kochel,” said one of the girls who is trying out for the swim team this year. “But Coach Hahn is nothing like Kochel.”

The two girls, both juniors, said Hahn had never acted improperly toward them.

They said the coach told the swim team and students in his science classes in early November that “there were allegations made against him by a few girls.”

But he told students the allegations had nothing to do with physical or sexual harassment and called them a “misunderstanding,” said one of the girls, who is a second-year swimmer.

Another swimmer, 16-year-old Marrie Murphy, said that Assistant Principal Helena Torrez-Reaves told swim team members in a meeting Wednesday that Coach Hahn would not be back this semester.

Murphy said she had initially heard from other students that Hahn had been sent home because a girl reported to school officials that he had put his arm around her.

But Torrez-Reaves told students Wednesday that additional allegations had been brought by a former student who said she had also had problems with Hahn, Murphy said.

Murphy said she had never seen Hahn act inappropriately toward students. “The closest thing he would do is put his arm around you or pat your back,” she said.

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Dan Clark, a 15-year-old sophomore on the water polo team, also said he had not seen the coach touch students inappropriately.

But Dan said he sometimes saw girls hugging the coach in the school hallways. “I’ve seen lots of the girls go up to him and give him hugs and flirt.”

Some parents and school officials said they are concerned that the allegations will damage the school’s image and hurt student morale, especially because the controversy comes so soon after the well-publicized Kochel case.

“Dale is an adult and he’s going to deal with whatever comes at him,” said Turner Clark, Dan’s father and president of the school’s Aquatics Booster Club. “But we’re concerned about the students and the school.”

Times staff writers Jeff Meyers and Christina Lima and correspondents Scott Hadly and Patrick McCartney contributed to this story.