Teacher quits after assault allegations 23-year Brewer educator has pleaded not guilty

BREWER – A Brewer High School special education teacher resigned May 24 after assault charges were filed against him in 3rd District Court in Bangor.

District Attorney Chris Almy said Friday that allegations against Robert “Ned” Smith are based on “inappropriate touching or grabbing” two students’ genital areas.

The complaints allegedly stemmed from incidents that occurred on three different occasions in November 2001 and January 2002.

Smith, 54, has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to appear in court June 19.

Smith’s attorney, Jeff Silverstein of Bangor, said Friday that his client had been “pushing and pulling – kind of wrestling and rassling” with his students, who are predominantly males, as a way to “build positive rapport.”

Silverstein said a female teacher “objected to the manner in which Ned was relating to a couple of students” and filed a complaint.

“She didn’t ask the students whether they were offended, she just went forward and said she didn’t like what was going on,” he said.

“Ned probably exercised poor judgment by engaging in conduct that teen-age kids are receptive to, but he only did so in an effort to provide positive classroom experience,” Silverstein said. “He never intended to harm or offend anybody.”

Silverstein said nobody else had complained that Smith was “doing anything inappropriate, unseemly or offensive.”

The attorney said Smith, who had been at Brewer High School for 23 years, resigned “after much introspection and deliberation” so he wouldn’t put his family and the school “through the aggravation and strain of making this a big issue.”

Silverstein said Smith’s colleagues as well as students and their parents would describe the teacher as “having worked wonders with a challenged student population.”

“Ned was able to take children who had never opened up in school previously and really turn school into a positive, successful experience for them,” Silverstein said.