Feeling safe at work is paramount, especially as a woman working in a male-dominant space. However, an athletic trainer at Legacy of Educational Excellence (LEE) High School in San Antonio has resigned after school administrators failed to provide a safe environment for her.
The athletic trainer, whose legal name has been redacted from reports, claims the head football coach, Wendell Harris, made sexually inappropriate comments to her throughout the school year. A formal Title IX investigation was conducted, but it found no fault with coach Harris.
The first incident allegedly occurred in Sept. 2023, when the athletic trainer said she was talking with a co-worker about someone she had dated. She told KSAT.com that, “Coach Harris walked in, looks me up and down and says ‘I heard you’re for the streets. I have tricks, too.”
The second instance occurred in Oct. 2023. Coach Harris allegedly said to the trainer “that it was like an episode of Baywatch this morning.” She says the coach then brought his elbows to his chest and swung his arms, gesturing to her chest. At the time, the athletic trainer had been running onto the field to help an injured student-athlete.
In both instances, the second athletic trainer corroborated the statements and confirmed that they were there to witness Coach Harris’s inappropriate comments.
However, other coaching staff claimed the opposite. An assistant coach told investigators, “he was with Harris during the second incident but did not recall any comments referencing Baywatch and did not recall any inappropriate comments about body parts.”
An official Title IX investigation was conducted this summer after the athletic trainer’s attorney contacted the school district. Unfortunately, the Title IX investigation, “did not reveal a preponderance of evidence to support the allegation that Harris made a comment about the woman that compared her to Baywatch or that was otherwise “sexual and suggestive of promiscuity.”
After being disbelieved by Title IX, the athletic trainer resigned from her position, claiming she knew that the district would continue to enable Coach Harris and his inappropriate behavior. Coach Harris has denied all of these allegations.
