Schools
Removed Coaches’ Supporters Rally at School Board Meeting
Over 50 supporters of Paul Tolle and Chip Snyder gathered at the school board meeting Wednesday night to speak and show they are behind the coaches.
Supporters of removed Chesapeake athletic director Chip Snyder and wrestling coach Paul Tolle came out Wednesday night in full force at the Anne Arundel County School Board meeting in Annapolis to speak or simply show their support for the removed coaches.
Well over 50 parents, students, friends and family members dressed in blue attended the Board meeting; and six individuals, including Tolle and Snyder’s wives, addressed the board during the public comments portion of the evening.
The support for the coaches stems from the decision of the school board to last week amid parent concerns of unsafe student behavior during a wrestling tournament in December. The specific allegations against the coaches have yet to be disclosed to the public.
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Holly Snyder, Chip Snyder’s wife, addressed the concerns for safety in her comments to the board.
“How does an email, generated by an anonymous letter, with a bogus email address motivated by selfish agenda, get so much attention with no name or contact given?” Holly Snyder asked the school board. “How does that have more credibility than Chip [Snyder], a 20-year veteran of the school system, with a clean record, and no history of formal complaints against him? In one afternoon everything he has worked for in 20 years was stripped down in the blink of an eye.”
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Paul Tolle’s wife, Dawn Tolle, also addressed the board in an emotional speech where she expressed the profound effect this investigation has had on their family.
“This all started when my husband received a phone call from Mr. Frank Drazen, principal of , on 2:01 Monday, January 9 and was simply told practice was canceled and the Paul had been removed as the head wrestling coach,” Dawn Tolle told the board. “This will be a memorable day for all of us, especially because it was our daughter Lizzy’s 11th birthday.”
Several other people addressed the board on Tolle and Snyder’s behalf’s, including long-time family friend and former football coach Bernard Williams, Chesapeake wrestler Austin Karls Jr., parent and of the “Support Coach Tolle and Snyder” Facebook page Patricia Brewis and Chesapeake High School graduate Chris Casey.
Everyone who addressed the board spoke of the influence Snyder and Tolle has personally had on them, and asked for them to be reinstated.
As is standard for public comment, the school board did not comment on any of the supporters’ remarks.
