Accused teacher back in classroom
A Walker County, Ga., teacher arrested four times last year on domestic violence charges is back in the classroom.
Superintendent Damon Raines said he moved Robert Sam Forester to Ridgeland High School at the beginning of this semester, even though Raines has not heard any updates on the pending charges against him. In September, Raines told the Times Free Press he moved Forester into an administrative role away from students only after his third arrest because the first two cases were misdemeanors.
Forester teaches special education, and Raines said Ridgeland High School had two empty spots. Forester helps his students in classrooms along with the non-special needs students, and he shares the classroom with other teachers.
“We continue to wait on the outcome or final ruling on his court dates,” Raines told the Times Free Press in a text message Friday. “More important, we had an immediate need in the special education department at [Ridgeland].”
Before his third arrest in September, Forester taught and coached football at LaFayette High School. Raines then fired him from his role with the team and separated him from his students, pending the results of his court case. Like other systems in the region, Walker County’s does not have a policy for what to do with teachers under criminal investigation.
“That was a conservative way or cautious way to move forward until we get more guidance from law enforcement,” Raines said at the time.
Forester’s four charges come from accusations by his ex-wife. After he filed for divorce, a judge ruled she could stay at his house in LaFayette through Jan. 31, 2017. But as of March, she was still there, Forester told a judge. The judge ruled on April 1 that she was in contempt of court.
That same day, an officer charged both of them with battery after a neighbor reported hearing yelling next door. Forester told an officer that his ex-wife bit him on the arm. She told the officer she only bit him because he grabbed her arm tightly. The officer wrote in his report that Forester had a bite mark and that his ex-wife’s forearm was red.
In June, Forester was charged after his ex-wife told an investigator he stomped on her arm. In September, he was arrested for aggravated assault after she said he picked her up by the throat, slammed her against the wall, choked her and kicked her in the lower back. The officer wrote that the woman’s throat was bruised.
The sheriff’s office arrested Forester again in October, when his ex-wife told an officer Forester attacked her with a box cutter. The officer wrote that she had three superficial cuts on her neck.
Forester told investigators the woman had actually been harassing him. He said she asked him to bring her stuff for her cat, then ripped his shirt when he refused to have sex with her. He also played a voicemail for officers, in which the woman said she would have Forester arrested if he did not call her back.
Two battery cases against Forester are filed in Walker County State Court. Both are scheduled for June trials. Forester’s attorney, David Cunningham, did not return an email seeking comment Friday afternoon.