Transgender tennis coach who changed near students in girls’ locker room rehired by school board

The Gettysburg Area School District’s board reportedly voted to rehire a transgender tennis coach following a controversy that took place in the girls’ locker room.

“The board of the Gettysburg Area School District voted 6-to-2, with one member absent, to renew tennis coach Sasha Yates’ contract for the fall season,” PennLive reported in early September. 

Gettysburg High School principal Jeremy Lusk had reportedly sent a memo to the coach in September 2022, warning, that it is “imperative to maintain professional boundaries” after the coach, a biological male, allegedly engaged in controversial conduct in the girl’s locker room.

“The memo stated that Yates had changed near students in the girls’ locker room, although Yates said she only removed her top in a discreet corner, and that she talked to students about undergarment preferences and menstruation, although Yates said she did not recall asking such questions,” PennLive reported. 

The outlet further said, “[Board President Kenneth] Hassinger also indicated that the board had fielded two further complaints that Yates had used a women’s restroom, and had walked through the girls’ locker room on the way to a meeting.”

The Epoch Times also wrote about the teacher’s alleged conduct.

“In the fall of 2022, the tennis coach entered the girls’ locker room where the girls’ soccer team was changing. Mr. Yates changed his clothing too, stripping down to bra and panties, a school board member familiar with the situation told The Epoch Times, adding that students reported that it was clear from what they saw that Mr. Yates was still fully a man,” The Epoch Times reported.

The Epoch Times also quoted local parent Steve Carbaugh, who alleged that Yates had followed his 16-year-old daughter to the girl’s bathroom during a softball game and tried to start a conversation with her there, relaying that the situation made her deeply uncomfortable.

Carbaugh reportedly called the school afterward and told the Epoch Times, “As far as I was concerned, they can’t protect my child while in their custody at this point.”

PennLive also spoke to Tristan Smith, the captain of the Gettysburg boys’ tennis team who has been helping to coach the girls’ team in Yates’ absence.

“The issue of Coach Sasha simply changing her attire in the girls’ locker room was promptly resolved,” Smith claimed, with others pointing out at the board meeting that district coaches now only use single-occupancy rooms to change. 

“There’s no validity to the disgusting claims I’ve heard about my coach,” Smith said, later adding, “I cannot stand here and refuse to acknowledge that blatant transphobia is the main motivation behind this commotion.”

FOX News Digital reached out to the Gettysburg Area School District, coach Yates, principal Lusk, and athletic director Casey Thurston for comment and received no response as of publication.