Soles barred from speaking at school board meetings

A man that has been agitating the Brandywine School District for what he sees as failing to protect his son from bullies has been barred from publicly speaking at Board of Education meetings.

Donald R. Soles of Claymont received a letter from district attorney Ellen Marie Cooper stating he was in violation of board policy on “harassment or bullying of employees.”

In the July 9 letter, Cooper wrote that Soles “engaged in uncivil and disruptive conduct in violation of Board policy” at a June 23 Board meeting and a July 7 District Discipline Committee meeting.

“Further uncivil or disruptive behavior at a meeting or event on your part or at your direction may result in your being barred from Board and District meetings and/or events, and possible legal action,” the letter said.

Soles has been waging a one-man war against the Brandywine School District for what he sees a failure to protect his son from racially motivated attacks by black students at Claymont School and P.S. duPont School in Wilmington from 2005 through 2007. To resolve incidents between his son and other students while at P.S., school administrators barred Soles’ son from hallway bathrooms and classrooms when a substitute teacher was present.

Soles, who is white, first appeared before the Brandywine Board of Education at its December, 2006 meeting and has attended Board meetings regularly ever since. During public comment periods, he has requested an explanation, and has been frustrated by the Board’s refusal to engage him publicly. Superintendent James R. Scanlon has said Soles’ criticisms are unfounded but has refused to comment further, saying it would violate the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act.

Soles has since enrolled both of his children in private school, and has repeatedly called for the ouster of Scanlon. However, in her letter to Soles, Cooper said there is no law or Board policy that addresses a citizen’s request to fire an employee.

Now, Soles is wondering if it is time to give up and move on, literally.

“The entire state of Delaware doesn't seem to care if a child is denied access to classrooms for reporting bullying,” said Soles, who took his fight to the Department of Justice as well. The Attorney General determined the alleged incidents involving Soles’ son may have involved harassment, disorderly conduct and other offenses, but none met “the elements for an assault III charge.”

He plans to put his house on the market.

“We felt forced from the district and now feel forced from the state of Delaware as I can’t convince my son that the charter schools are not like the public schools,” he said. “And I can't see paying school tax money to a district that won't give my son access to all of his classes after he reported being bullied for two years.”