Contact 17: Teen attempts suicide, possible link to bullying

There is a conflict of interest in this and in any school where harm occurs to a student, and there is no written physical report on record with the school. If Educators, guardians, sitters, etc. , any single one, should ever say that they had any knowledge at all of bullyiung, then this opens them up both personally and the School System as well, to liability. Educators Will Never acknowledge observed but unreported bullying. There must be a Nationally Centralized method for students and others to report, and to have incidents recorded, and then forwarded affirmatively to schools, so that even casual observers can report cases of bullying, and so that Schools a.) are clearly aware, and b.) cannot deny knowledge of same.

Bakersfieldmom, I was teased & hit on also as a kid for being fat & wearing glasses, BUT at one point I got tired of it & fought back against the bully, when the other kids saw someone fighting back they also jumped in & helped teach the bully a lesson. Maybe if the other kids would fight back & help each other out against the bullies & the adults keep their noses out of it the same thing will happen. At some point you have to stand up for yourself & your friends. That is one of the problems with the youth now, they won't stand up for squat because the schools & the system have taught them not to.

If you take a look at kids that bully their peers you will more than likely find that they come from a parent or parents that are bullies. Where do you think they learn this behavior? Doesn't it all boil down to parenting? Is the school supposed to parent these kids and educate them? Yes they are supposed to protect the students and something should have been done about this before it got this out of hand. But then I have to go back to what I stated earlier if a kid is a bully more than likely their parent is too and do you really think the parent is going to do anything about it? Probably not. bakersfieldmom is right "we must teach our children that HATRED is absolutely unacceptable and we don't ever lay our hands on people, PERIOD" I will pray for this boy, his family and whomever the bullies are that caused this boy to feel so inadequate. I hope the bullies realize we are all human beings, we all need oxygen to breath we all bleed the same color and guess what we all put our pants on the same way one leg at a time!

For Centlin: This boy has not died but is on life support in ICU...I think your post is a bit dramatic considering he is still alive and fighting for his life. For JMAbbot, letting kids deal with it themselves is NOT always the way to go. From what I have been told regarding the situation (I was one of those parents called by the school district), the boy was dealing with the situatin on his own, and this is what it led to. He was being teased about something very personal about himself, and was harassed everyday regarding that issue. On the day he attempted suicide, he had just been beat up by these bullies after school. Now, this was a very personal issue he was dealing with, therefore, we must teach our children that HATRED is absolutely unacceptable and we don't ever lay our hands on people, PERIOD. What these bullies have done is harm this child's psyche so much that he obviously felt life was not worth living. I cannot imagine going to school everyday, knowing you will be persecuted for who you are. This is a small community where everyone knows everyone, and we are all in support of this boy and his family. Jacobson Junior High is falling a part, and has a poor reputation in our community. Things like these, are why many parents are pulling thier kids out of JMS, and either home-schooling them, or putting them in private school--simply because it's known that the administration, teachers, environment, and even educational supplies are lacking in quality. Once they get to Tehachapi High School, most parents re-enroll in the public school system, because THS is a very reputable school in this community. Shame on the bullies, and shame on Jacobson Middle School administration for NOT taking action sooner!!!

I really wish that the schools/District offices would OFFER/MANDATE Social Skills classes for the BULLIES to show them how their behavior affects others. They always want to offer classes or help to the kids that are bullied but honestly the BULLIES and the BULLIES parents need to be educated. My son was victim of constant ridicule by his peers for his weight for years but he was the one that was signed up for social skills class on how to learn to deal/cope with the kids that were obviously not taught at home to not make fun of kids that look different or act different. It has to be a two way street. These bullies don't have an understanding of the hurt and damage they do that takes years of undoing and unfortunately, some kids cannot cope and cannot handle it and think there is no other way out other than suicide.Very sad. I hope this kids pulls through and the culprits come clean and stop the bad behavior.

We have allowed our school systems to teach children that they are merely animals,born from ooze, no real direction, no purpose, no hope, as they are learning materialism does not satisfy and people who don't know that are too busy trying to attain wealth to realize the kids around them are dying from lack of love. Self sacrificing love of others will help give you hope. Knowing you are clean and someone loves you relieves your guilt.Good news. Jesus loves you he already died so you do not have to take your own life.

I have a novel idea, why not listen to the kids at the schools since they are the ones who know who the bullies are. Then after you know who the bullies are watch the little punks like a hawk, everytime they do anything wrong nail em to the wall. Or just let their peers take care of business WITHOUT the adults sticking their noses in. It worked back whe I was in school, before we hadthis "kinder & gentler" system.

Deep down inside all of us there are unseen layers which can have an affect on how a man governs his thoughts; the same truth holds for children. These layers can be made up of the heart, mind, spirit; when these layers begin to shift or if the heart is shift aginst the mind or the spirit against them all these layers will begin to shift like do the Earthquake plates which can cause an earthquake. The question is, why did the ground shake so hard that the ground this teen was standing on caused him to take such action to cure his problem? I wake up each day asking myself why AM I still alive, i goto bed asking for death, yet there is a part of me which continues to seek out answers to unanswered questions. For a teen to hang himself leaves me feeling selfish and with a knowlege i can do more to help but what that is i do not know. I think that teen died with that truth that holds the answer why he made his choice, unless he left some kind of sign(s) before left to a far off country...

As a Mom with teenage kids, it is very difficult to know how much of kids talk of suicide is attention grabbing. If a friend confides in my child they are cutting and have seen suicide as a way out of their problems what can you do really?? If you tell the child's parent then the child will not confide again, if you don't say anything they may do it. It is a tough spot.

How awful. Thank God the child is still alive. Bullies don't realize the harm the cause. Maybe this is yet another wake up call.