DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. — A Douglas County Junior ROTC instructor is on administrative leave after he was accused of making inappropriate, sexual comments to students.
It happened after a mother made several complaints against Chief Michael Potter, an instructor at Chapel Hill High School. But the Navy Veteran is vehemently denying those claims through his attorney.
Potter’s attorney, Ed Buckley, talked to 11Alive’s Hope Ford about the mother’s complaints of bullying against her child and Potter's alleged sexually inappropriate comments.
“He denies that. He denies that categorically,” Buckley said flat out.
Tionna Washington’s teen daughter goes to Chapel Hill High School in Douglasville. Washington claims over the past year, Potter would often berate her daughter in front of the other cadets and then make inappropriate sexual comments.
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On several instances, Washington’s claims Potter told her daughter, "I don’t like you" in front of her peers. Buckley said Washington’s daughter was constantly seeking the approval of Potter, and the comment was taken out of context.
“What he said to her and what he said to other students is, ‘I don’t like you anymore than I like any other student. I treat all students the same,’” Buckley explained.
The teen's mother called this false, saying her daughter told her Potter followed up with "you tried to get me in trouble with your mom."
Washington said the situation stems from a complaint she made against Potter the year prior, when he reportedly refused to let her daughter retake an important exam. School administrators forced Potter to retest her anyway … and he allegedly was not happy about it.
Washington showed 11Alive emails she sent to school officials, including the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, complaining about Potter's behavior. She soon got law enforcement involved.
In a report filed with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, Potter allegedly made inappropriate sexual comments about his body and his use of condoms in class. Washington said it crossed a line.
"You're 60 years old. You don't say that to 16-year-old teenage girls," she said.
But Buckley said his client never spoke to his students that way.
“He never made that comment. He is adamant that he never made that comment,” Buckley insisted. “This is defamation.”
While Washington was the main one to file a complaint on behalf of her daughter, she claims two other girls witnessed Potter’s alleged behavior and heard his comments.
Buckley, however, said he talked with students at the school, who say the three girls are friends, and that Washington and her daughter coerced them into backing up her claims.
Washington said her daughter and the other two girls are classmates and furthermore, Washington never contacted the students.
“I called their parents, and their parents talked to their kids," she said. "I never talked to their kids.”
Buckley said he hopes the school does a deeper investigation and reinstates his client. He claims Potter has no disciplinary record with the school and always treated all students with fairness.
Washington, meanwhile, believes the school should dismiss the instructor.
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