Doctor files suit against Dunham School

Dr. Russell Saloom, a Baton Rouge ophthalmologist, has filed suit against the Dunham School, charging officials with being unwilling to address the bullying his son was going through. In the suit, which was filed Monday in 19th Judicial District Court, Saloom says he took his son, a fifth-grader, out of Dunham at the start of the school year. Saloom says the bullying incidents went back to the third grade. The school offered to refund his prepaid tuition, but only if Saloom signed an agreement that would prohibit him from discussing the bullying with anyone, according to the suit. Saloom’s suit asks Dunham to provide reasons why he should be silent and the tuition should not be returned. In a statement, Larry Roedel, the attorney for Dunham, says school officials met with Saloom several times to discuss the bullying. Roedel says he did ask Saloom to sign a standard confidentiality agreement, given the nature of the dispute and the fact that children were involved. “Dr. Saloom has refused to reach an agreement with (the) school, choosing instead to make what should have been a private matter for he and his son quite public,” Roedel says, adding that Dunham is willing to work out its differences with Saloom.—Timothy Boone