Scott Walz should be celebrating his high school graduation from Johnsburg High School in McHenry County, IL.
He can’t. Scott took his life this past March 4th as a result of years of being bullied. His family
says the school didn’t do enough to stop it.
Sadly this is not a surprise. Most schools don’t do enough. Some do nothing. The victims endure torment and pain.
Scott’s mom told CBS news that Scott was quiet and shy. He had a black belt in Karate but never fought back – even after nine years of being bullied. He was even beaten up and choked to the point of passing out.
Bullying and cyberbullying hurt. The pain can be devastating!
And this past Monday on Memorial Day, Christian Taylor, a 16-year-old freshman at Grafton High School in Yorktown, Va., took his own life after reportedly enduring months of relentless bullying.
Scott Walz (Illinois), Christian Taylor (Virginia), Alexis Pilkington (New York), Phoebe Prince (Massachusetts), Celina Okwuone and Hope Witsell (Florida), Ryan Halligan (Vermont) and all of the others who took their lives were tormented on a daily basis. But they might be here today if their schools had listened – if they took a stand against all forms of bullying.
Although it’s too late for Phoebe Prince, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick passed landmark anti-bullying legislation.
Now there is legislation on Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's desk that, if signed, will create an Illinois Bullying Prevention Task Force.
Scott Walz’s school Principal Kevin Shelton told CBS News that he is starting a special committee on bullying next year and has already implemented his own anonymous tip line at school.
Currently, the only state requirement is that each school district has a bullying prevention policy in place.
An anonymous tip line is a start. But it’s not enough for schools to have bullying prevention policies. Much more needs to be done.
And Christian Taylor’s mom told the producers of 48 Hours that she and her son had reported the bullying to school administrators and law enforcement officials, but nothing was done to stop the bully from tormenting her son.
Sheriff's officials claimed they looked into the situation, but turned it over to school officials after deciding that no crime had been committed; however, in light of the suicide, the sheriff's department is going to review the case and determine if any laws were broken.
If teachers, principals, guidance counselors notice a change in a student’s behavior, they should investigate. Anti-bullying legislation must be passed in every state – but it can’t work if it’s not enforced.
While the profile of a bully is typically to be angry and have low self-esteem, bullies often will be over-confident, have elite status or have a sense of entitlement. No matter what their issue is, their behavior is unacceptable.
And once the bullies are identified, they need help. Bullying is a learned behavior. Kids are not born into the world as bullies.
To not help bullies change their behavior is criminal.
Parents must take responsibility. To live in denial and say “not my child” is sentencing your child to a life of anger, bad behavior and unhappiness.
It’s up to parents, schools, law enforcement and the students to work together to put an end to the violence and to put and to the suicide of bullied victims.
Suicide is never the answer. Meet STOMP Out Bullying's Ambassadors and learn how what they did when they were bulled! Let's work towards saving lives. Let's work to STOMP Out Bullying!
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Comments
How tragic. We have to help these kids now!
Yes, we do have to help the, Skip. Unfortunately many schools don't enforce legislation. I would love to see parents much more involved in the PTA and the schools. Then it would not be so easy for schools to sweep the issue under the rug.
Leslie Yeransian covered this for ABC News indepth. A great story on what Mayor Bloomberg has been trying to do to tackle this:
Read the Article .
Leslie Yeransian covered this for ABC News indepth...it's a great story on what Mayor Bloomberg has been trying to do to tackle this: http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2045782&page=1
Yes, it is a great story!
Thank you for including my son in your article this past week today infact I had to go to school and pick up Christians now 14 yr old brother Will, my kids are in pain and I cant fix it, IF the school doesnt do anything tomorrow I am going to the magistrate and swearing out a warrant against the kids who actually physically and mentally bullied Will knowing that Will is Christian's brother, ALL my kids this year have been bullied and I have put the school on notice that I have NO room for STUPID this year....EVER! thank you and you can email me ChristianTaylorsLaw@yahoo.com
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