When Coach is another kid

There are plenty of good reasons school districts are looking outside their own teaching ranks to find coaches and club advisers. Many teachers want to spend their after-school hours focusing on lesson planning or collaborating with colleagues. Some take evening college courses. Others want to be involved in their own children's lives.

But school districts have to think a little smarter than Goshen High School did when it hired 19-year-olds as coaches. Police say Andrew Emerson, a teenage assistant football coach, hosted an alcohol-fueled party attended by students. And cheerleading coach Victoria Schattauer not only snapped a picture of a 15-year-old cheerleader topless, but peeled off her shirt and joined in the shot.

Someone sent the photo to a male friend's phone from which it was -- who could have imagined this? -- passed along from cell phone to cell phone.

Come on, Goshen. Asking teenagers to supervise other teenagers is a risky move. Thinking that it won't lead to social complications is a naive one. Schools get sued routinely as it is. Why invite more trouble?