The Facebook photo of a high school basketball coach Laraine Cook being groped by her fiance that got her fired
Mike Gallagher
An Idaho high school basketball coach who was fired for posting a photo on her Facebook page showing her fiance grabbing her breast is trying to get her job back.
Laraine Cook is appealing Pocatello High School's decision to sack her on October 22 after an 'anonymous source' sent the picture to district officials last month.
But in a stunning case of double standards, her fiance Tom Harrison, who works at the same school, has been allowed to stay on as a football coach.
The vacation snap, posted in July, remained online for less than a day.
A district school spokesman said Cook's dismissal was a personnel decision and wouldn't confirm why the coach, who had led her team to a third-place finish in the state touament, had been let go, Fox News reported.
However, Cook said the district office considered the holiday image 'immoral'. She said she was fired because she posted the photo to Facebook, not her fiance.
Cook said she has since leaed to be more 'cautious', but doesn't believe she deserved to lose her job.
'I wouldn't be doing anything like that [immoral] on a family vacation with with my mother, and my kids and all my family around,' the mother of two told Local News 8.
'I wouldn't do anything that I would deem immoral, or not right or inappropriate...In my personal opinion, I don't think that photo is something to have me terminated for.
'If I've leaed something from this, I've leaed that you just never know and have to be extremely careful about what you do and say.'
Booby trap: This is the 'offensive' image of basketball coach Laraine Cook being groped by her fiance Tom Harrison that got her sacked, after an 'anonymous source' sent the happy snap to school officials
Admired: Laraine Cook (kneeling) coached the Pocatello High Indians to a third-place finish in the state touament last year
Dismissed: Basket ball coach Laraine Cook has been fired after a vacation photo showed her boyfriend touching her chest
The decision to fire Cook has outraged parents who have daughters on her school team.
'Did she make some errors in judgment? Absolutely. Should she lose her job over it? I don't think so,' Dave Reichelt told KPVI 6.
'We believe she's an awesome coach. We think she's a great influence on our daughters.'
He said that Cook had empowered his daughter 'not just in basketball but in life itself'.
Parents reportedly met with school district officials last week hoping to get Cook reinstated. The termination was upheld.
The high school administration said they had fought to keep Cook, but had been overruled by the district office.
Cook said she has appealed the school's decision. However, Gawker reported her position was recently filled by Brock Gunter.
Harrison was reprimanded by the district.
Team Cook: Pocatello High School told the basketball team they had pushed to keep Miss Cook
