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Former Jordan Middle School teacher and coach Bill Giordano was sentenced to four years in prison Friday morning for having sexual relations with a young girl from 1991 to 1994.

"You've betrayed many people and took advantage of a position of trust and leadership," San Mateo County Superior Court Judge James Ellis told Giordano when he announced the sentence shortly after 9:30 a.m. in a Redwood City courtroom.

Giordano this June entered a no contest plea to the 10 counts of child molestation. He had made a plea bargain that provided a maximum sentence of five years in jail.

"I'm deeply sorry," Giordano told the judge this morning. "There's no question that what I did was wrong. I'm deeply sorry. I wish I had been stronger at the time.

"I'm affected by it every hour and every day -- I'm not making that up," he said.

But a psychological profile of Giordano released at the sentencing, by Dr. David Berke of San Mateo, concluded that Giordano has predatory and pedopheliac type behavior, and that his work at school was "cruel and sadistic."

Giordano joined the Palo Unified School District as a teacher in 1978, and became a teacher at Jordan Middle School in 1991. He was arrested on Aug. 18, 2005, on charges of having sexual relations with an underage girl starting when she was 14 in late 1991.

Podcast highlights Giordano case, prevention

Friday's sentencing of former Jordan Middle School teacher and coach Bill Giordano has heightened interest in the case of his three-year sexual involvement with a student, between 1991 and 1994, beginning when she was 14.

In a podcast, Palo Alto Weekly Associate Editor Jocelyn Dong interviews education reporter Alexandria Rocha about the case, emphasizing how parents, students and others can be alert toward similar situations.

The program reviews the case, discusses changes in school policies since Giordano's arrest and offers tips on how parents can safeguard their children.

Listen to the podcast

(To download the podcast, PC users can use the right-click function on their mouse. Macintosh users can hold down the option key and click to download).

Recent stories:

School district sued for Giordano abuse (Aug. 11, 2006)

Jordan community stunned by teacher's arrest (Aug. 24, 2005)

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