Millions of children in the U.S. are victims of bullying every day.
A Nevada school is being sued by the parents of a 13-year-old girl due to their failure to inform them of the bullying that led to her suicide. The parents contend they were unaware their daughter was a victim of bullying until she took her life in December 2013.
The wrongful death suit was recently filed against White Middle School staff and the Clark County School District.
The lawsuit alleges that a classmate anonymously reported the taunting on the school district’s anti-bullying website which required the school to inform the parents of the complaint but they failed to do so.
According to court documents, students began bullying the girl in August 2013. She was a straight-A student and star soccer goalie that had recently been diagnosed with epilepsy and the other kids were mocking her seizures. The bullying was “severe and abusive,” the lawsuit said.
She left a suicide note that read: “I only ask that you tell my school I killed myself so maybe next time people like (bully) wants to call someone (names), he won’t.”
Her parents didn’t learn about the full extent of the bullying for months which included voicemail messages and also hateful letters left in her locker.
Bullying Prevention
The best way to stop bullying is to prevent it before it starts. To that end, 60 for Safety has partnered with the Yoursphere Media Education Foundation’s “I Choose” Classroom Challenge to offer a dynamic bullying curriculum to schools in your community. The “I Choose” campaign allows you to put valuable resources in the hands of classroom teachers so they can work with students to combat this growing issue.
October is Bullying Prevention Month, for more helpful information about bullying and the different types of bullying, please visit StopBullying.gov.
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