NEW YORK — Members of Penn State’s board of trustees on Wednesday outlined the changes the school has implemented as result of the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal, reforms they said have improved the university and might help them persuade the NCAA to reconsider its crippling penalties.

In an hourlong interview Wednesday in New York with The Associated Press, board Chairman Keith Masser and longtime board member Joel Myers touted the steps taken at Penn State since Sandusky’s arrest in November 2011, including training staff in child abuse recognition and reporting, as well as cutting the governor and university president from the board.

They said the school is still working to implement a long list of governance and oversight changes suggested a year ago in a report from the team led by former FBI Director Louis Freeh.

As examples of the improvements, Masser said Penn State has hired an athletics integrity officer, trained 16,000 people on child abuse reporting and 3,000 on the federal law that requires reporting campus crime.

He said Penn State has already fully implemented 76 recommendations in the Freeh report and is working on 27 others.

“All these things we’re implementing and applying (are) to reduce the possibility of it ever happening again,” Masser said.

They also said they hope their record might persuade the NCAA to reconsider the penalties against the university before they are due to expire in 2018.

They did not offer a time frame for approaching the NCAA, but they noted the university’s consent agreement with the NCAA allows it to be reopened if both sides agree.

“You’ve got to serve some jail time before you get probation,” Masser said.

He said the school is now trying to demonstrate “to the NCAA and the entire world” that it aims to embody the highest moral and ethical standards in college sports. The NCAA agreement, signed in July, includes a $60 million fine, a four-year ban on postseason play, a loss of scholarships and the invalidation of 112 football wins.

Their public relations push comes a month after university alumni elected three trustees who were endorsed by an alumni group critical of university leadership.