A local community is reacting to the news that a part-time track coach has been suspended after school officials learned of a controversial history.

The Shenendehowa School District suspended 54-year-old Don Paretta when they learned his teaching certificate was revoked after he was accused of sexual abuse but never charged.

The alleged incidents happened in 1990, during his time as a teacher and coach at a New York City high school.

The case went to court in 1992, but the charges were dropped when the alleged victim reportedly refused to testify.

The Shenendehowa School District hired Paretta in 1995, but he did not lose his teaching certificate until a short time later, in 1996.

Margaret and Steve Gregory have known Paretta for years. Their son ran track at Shen, and to this day they consider the coach a mentor. So news of his suspension and prior allegations of a sexual relationship with a student are unbelievable to them.

"I would trust the guy right now to take my kid away to a pole-vault camp, and he was instrumental in our son getting a scholarship for pole vaulting," Margaret Gregory said.

This is a powerful statement considering the information found in a report made by the State Board of Education when Paretta's teaching license was revoked back in 1996. The report describes in detail an alleged sexual relationship dating back to 1990 with a student, reading in part, "The student here has stated he engaged in sexual acts with the teacher and the teacher admittedly gave the student a graduation note confirming he would miss the student's face and body."

A former Shenendehowa student athlete says this is not the Paretta he knows.

That athlete, Stevan Popuvac, said, "I've gone to concerts with him, I've had dinner with him. I've gone golfing. He's gone golfing with my family a handful of times. I've gone to different states with him.

He's never once acted inappropriate or even hinted at inappropriate towards me."

Coach Paretta has not been accused of any inappropriate relationships with students at Shenendehowa, nor has he ever been convicted of a crime, leading the Gregory's to call the suspension "the result of a witch hunt".

Margaret Gregory told NEWS10, "I think we would have heard some rumblings about this before now. I just think that the kids - kids can be pretty brutal, and if they had an idea in any way, I think one of the kids would have started something and said, ‘you know what I saw here.'"

"He's very well respected in the kids' and parents' community here in Clifton Park," Steve Gregory said.

NEWS10 spoke with Paretta's attorney, David Ehrlich, who says the coach plans to fight the district's decision.

"[Paretta] feels he deserves his job and he thinks that the thousands of kids that he's coached would stand up and say the same thing, so if the district intends on firing him, he's not intending on going quietly," Ehrlich said.