COACH REPRIMANDED FOR FRIENDSHIP WITH PUPIL.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

A football coach has been disciplined by the William S. Hart Union High School District for poor judgment because he met a female student late at night on and near the Canyon High campus.

Students told administrators they saw teacher and coach Larry Mohr, 40, with an 18-year-old Canyon High senior on April 1, sitting in his parked truck on campus, and then shortly thereafter in the parking lot of adjacent North Oaks Park.

Canyon High Principal Vicki Engbrecht and district Superintendent Bob Lee confirmed Friday that Mohr had been reproached.

``He's been given an official letter of reprimand . . . basically for poor judgment,'' Lee said. If there were to be similar future contact between the young woman and Mohr, he could face punishments as severe as suspension without pay or even termination, the superintendent said.

Before the April 1 incident, Engbrecht and an assistant principal had spoken to Mohr about campus rumors that he and the young woman had an inappropriate relationship, Lee said.

``They counseled and directed him to stay away from her,'' Lee said. ``It was made clear that just the appearance of something inappropriate is problematic, not only for him but for the school.''

Both the student and Mohr have maintained all along that they have a friendship and nothing more. The young woman's mother is active with the Cowboys football booster club, and the coach told administrators he had simply given the young woman a ride back to her car.

Three boys said they saw the teacher and student sitting together in the truck, from about 11 p.m. that Thursday until after midnight. The following day was a school holiday.

``We've found absolutely no evidence . . . of any school rule having been broken,'' Engbrecht said.

She asked the three Canyon High boys to write statements about what they saw that night, but none of their accounts revealed any wrongdoing by Mohr. ``We have no evidence of an improper relationship,'' Engbrecht said.

The coach explained to district officials that the student had come to school that night to borrow a laptop computer her mother needed for a booster club project. ``(He said) that he and the young lady are close family friends, and that he and his wife spend a lot of time with (the student's) family, and that there was absolutely nothing going on,'' the principal said.

The reprimand won't become a permanent entry in Mohr's personnel file, Engbrecht noted. ``He was never directed by either the school or the district to stay home (from work),'' she added.

``We have not closed the door on the investigation, and if new information points us in another direction, we're still free to take action on that,'' Engbrecht said.

``If there is a friendship (between teacher and student), you keep that friendship totally, completely away from the school setting,'' Lee said last month. ``It doesn't matter that they're both adults. She is a student and he is a teacher, and the eyes of the school are looking.''