Family says West Virginia boy, 9, was driven to suicide by bullying at school
Quote:
A 9-year-old West Virginia boy was found hanged to death in his bedroom in an apparent suicide after family said he was the victim of schoolyard bullying.
Jackson Grubb was found dead on Saturday by his sister, who told WVVA that she made the gruesome discovery when she walked into his bedroom to cheer him up with a frog she had found.
Authorities said the death appears to be a suicide and that “foul play is not suspected,” according to the Raleigh County Sheriff’s office.
Jackson’s grandmother and guardian, Betsy Baber, told the local NBC affiliate that the third grader was bullied at school and that in the couple weeks before his death she had noticed a change in the boy.
“I was spending time with him, trying to get it out of him. But Jack’s the type that holds things in and I couldn’t get it out of him," she said.
Jackson, who attended school at Sophia Soak Creek Elementary in rural Sophia, W.V., was a quiet boy and was picked on because he was small, Baber said.
“He didn’t want to look little. These kids need to know that there’s nothing wrong with being little,” Baber said. “It’s being able to tell these kids that they’re being mean. And it needs to stop.”
Family says they hope to put up a billboard to advertise an anti-bullying message following Jackson's heartbreaking death.
"I want to get a billboard with his face on it that says, 'stop the bullying, it killed me," Baber told the State Journal.
[…]
Studies show that 49% of children in grades 4-12 get bullied by other students at school at least once over the course of a month.
I dont get how the damn teachers and parents dont pay attention and realize this is happening. Like kids spend the majority of time at school or at home. Either the parents or teachers should catch on if a kid is bullying others or is some students are getting bullied. They should also make it easy for kids to open up and take steps to punish unacceptable behavior. Schools should have child therapists that do counseling sessions with kids 1 to 1 every so often. My high school did this and it was pretty good.
Bullies are disgusting even the ones that are children. Schools need to start being penalised for incidents such as this. They have a responsibility to look out for every child yet lots turn a blind eye or are negligent.
The bullies better grow up knowing they drove someone to suicide. Truly sick.
R.I.P.
omg