• Parents say ‘relentless bullying,’ Facebook posts, led to 14-year-old’s suicide
    78 replies, posted
[url=http://fox13now.com/2016/04/26/parents-say-relentless-bullying-facebook-post-led-to-14-year-olds-suicide/]Source[/url] [quote]WARRENTON, Mo. – Parents of a Missouri middle school student are reeling after their daughter took her own life following months of alleged harassment – in person and on social media – by the girl's classmates. Destiny Gleason, 14, hanged herself on Wednesday from a pull-up bar in her bedroom after what her parents describe as relentless bullying culminated in a fight at school last Tuesday. That altercation ended with Destiny being taken away in handcuffs and charged with assault. "She just wanted everybody to like her, that's all she wanted," Destiny's mother, Stephanie Clark, told KTVI. Destiny's family moved to Warrenton last summer. She entered Black Hawk Middle School in the fall of 2015. "At one point they took some photo of some random person's private parts and put Destiny's name across it and spread it around the school," her mother said. "Anything they could possibly do to hurt her and bring her down." According to her parents, the bullying began in the fall, and even though they say school officials were aware of it, they also say little was done to stop it. "We tried to be there for her as much as possible and do everything that we possibly could," said Destiny's stepfather Kurtis Clark. "It would have been nice if somebody else would have too, instead of just saying we are going to talk to them, or we had a talk with them and telling them not to talk to each other," he said. As a result of the fight at school, Destiny was scheduled to start intensive behavioral therapy on Wednesday, but shortly after seeing what her mother described as "mean" Facebook postings about her daughter following the fight, Destiny went to her bedroom, found an extension cord and hanged herself. All her family can do now is hope her death makes people think, Clark says. "Words matter," said Stephanie Clark. "That old saying, 'sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me' – well, they will and we lost our daughter because of words." Superintendent Dr. James Chandler says because of student privacy rights all he can say is the district takes bullying seriously and provides an anonymous hotline to report bullying.[/quote]
I encourage everyone to watch BULLY on Netflix for a better insight as to why this school is probably just as garbage as the next in not disciplining or ridding of terrible kids.
Pretty fucked up how so many dumb ass kids will go to such lengths for the sole purpose of ruining someone else's life.
I feel like stories like this used to be more common years ago. I remember [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Megan_Meier]this[/url] being a big deal when I was in Middle School
[QUOTE=proboardslol;50214018]I feel like stories like this used to be more common years ago. I remember [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Megan_Meier"]this[/URL] being a big deal when I was in Middle School[/QUOTE] There's something a lot more public about the internet now. Back then, someone could cyberbully you through MSN/AM/online games like Maple story/Habbo Hotel etc and it would be really hard to explain the situation to older people. Now everyone's on Facebook and youtube, it's a lot easier for adults to understand the situation plus back then it was an emerging problem, whereas now we know how to deal with it much better because it's been around for well over a decade
Can't really "turn off the computer and walk away lol" in these situations. It's never really about how the victim reacts to the stuff posted online, it's about how everyone else in the victim's environments handles it. Getting off FB doesn't do shite to help your situation when your peers are pulling up the pictures they photoshopped to make fun of you on their smartphones in school.
[QUOTE=Im Crimson;50214083]Can't really "turn off the computer and walk away lol" in these situations. It's never really about how the victim reacts to the stuff posted online, it's about how everyone else in the victim's environments handles it. Getting off FB doesn't do shite to help your situation when your peers are pulling up the pictures they photoshopped to make fun of you on their smartphones in school.[/QUOTE] Also, I think that cyber bullying probably coincides with real life bullying. The difference, I think, is that to victims, School is a bad place you have to go everyday. When I was a kid, I dreaded going to school because I wasn't... treated very nicely. Going home and getting online was my escape, and online was supposed to be the "safe space" (can't believe I used that word nonironically). But when the people at school follow you online, and therefore follow you home, you feel trapped. Like you can't escape it anywhere, and that everybody in the world, including these stranger you met online hate you, just like the kids at school hate you, just like your family hates you. Thank god I never really got into social media like facebook (or myspace when it was popular), because I feel like my view of the internet would be completely different.
[QUOTE=proboardslol;50214128]including these stranger you met online hate you, just like the kids at school hate you, just like your family hates you[/QUOTE] This helped foster a terrible, terrible self-destructive mindset from about 5th grade up to like the 10th or 11th grade long past anyone was bullying me really. It just taught me to bully myself.
[quote]At one point they took some photo of some random person's private parts and put Destiny's name across it and spread it around the school,"[/quote] Um...haha, amazing joke? Seriously, what?
Yeah, I don't get this. Then again from what i remember of highschool it was basically this. [video=youtube;vT7vD8uAGEQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT7vD8uAGEQ[/video] A War.
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;50214428]Um...haha, amazing joke? Seriously, what?[/QUOTE] I think the implication was that it was Destiny's private parts.
[url]http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/suicide-statistics.html[/url] Looking at all these statistics is just absolutely disgusting [quote] A nationwide survey of youth in grades 9–12 in public and private schools in the United States (U.S.) found that (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014): 16% of students reported seriously considering suicide 13% reported creating a plan 8% reporting trying to take their own life in the 12 months preceding the survey [/quote] Do schools even give a shit about mental illness? Do the governments even give a shit?
Schools have never made bullying a priority, tbh. Nor have they ever displayed an adequate understanding of mental illness or behavioral differences outside of the realm of ADD/ADHD/Autism. Even the understanding of those is still very very early on in its development. They can't make money or get better test scores by catering to students who require counseling. They want to pay one counselor and one counselor only - or maybe two or three in high school - but even these counselors are so laden with other things to do that sometimes things fall by the wayside. Most of the policies that I've seen are either "no tolerance" or no policy at all. Just slapping motivational posters everywhere that become apart of the wall color after the first two days of school. That doesn't help anything.
[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;50214656][URL]http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/suicide-statistics.html[/URL] Looking at all these statistics is just absolutely disgusting Do schools even give a shit about mental illness? Do the governments even give a shit?[/QUOTE] No. While it's slightly better than it was in the past, it's still pretty fucking horrible. We've got more pressing issues, like sports (one school in my area literally has 3 stadiums for example, it's disgusting.) Though, schools can't fix this problem on their own. The overall societal stigma towards mental illness is also incredibly damaging
[QUOTE=Firecat;50214746]Too much work for them. Why do you think no tolerance policies are also in affect at a lot of schools. It's sad, but it's much harder for them to figure out who did what than just send them home with the same punishment when one was probably just trying to defend himself.[/QUOTE] I remember someone punching me in school so I threw a punch back. I was the only one seen throwing a punch by a teacher and was the only person punished. Great job on listening to the kid with a bruise from someone else.
The same is true of Canadian schools too. I was bullied and not once, not one fucking time, did a bully get punished for hurting me physically or in any other way. Not once. I got suspended for defending myself from two bullies who cornered me. Yeah. Fuck 0 tolerance
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;50214839]The same is true of Canadian schools too. I was bullied and not once, not one fucking time, did a bully get punished for hurting me physically or in any other way. Not once. I got suspended for defending myself from two bullies who cornered me. Yeah. Fuck 0 tolerance[/QUOTE] That's it? I got ARRESTED for defending myself against a bully, on top of 3 weeks of in-school suspension. At least my parents were supportive because they knew what was going on and why I did what I did. Zero tolerance policies are pretty bad.
[QUOTE=sam6420;50214907]I've never even seen a bully in real life. The whole concept is so foreign to me.[/QUOTE] Maybe you have but in a sort of passive aggressive way?
[QUOTE=sam6420;50214907]I've never even seen a bully in real life. The whole concept is so foreign to me.[/QUOTE]Maybe because you were the bully?
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;50214839]The same is true of Canadian schools too. I was bullied and not once, not one fucking time, did a bully get punished for hurting me physically or in any other way. Not once. I got suspended for defending myself from two bullies who cornered me. Yeah. Fuck 0 tolerance[/QUOTE] Indeed that happens, tis why you have to put a stop to it yourself and damn the consequences. Unless you're so far gone murder comes up then that's a bad idea. Which thankfully all they are looking for is a emotional response which is stopped as soon as you stare them dead in the in the eye and tell them to fuck off then no one bothered me again. Of course that was also after I punched him in the face that morning. (For clarification on the fuck off I didn't actually say that, at lunch he demanded an apology which I said no and walked away. Then he kept pulling me back with my backpack demanding it and then I went no goodbye. Then the principal came along and said there better be nothing going on here which ended it. Though the damage was already done for I made him look really weak in front of everyone. I'm pretty sure he knew that charlie horses he could get away with as if a teacher saw as were just playing around excuse, however when it came to straight up thing he couldn't do it at all.)
[QUOTE=DELL;50214983]Indeed that happens, tis why you have to put a stop to it yourself and damn the consequences. Unless you're so far gone murder comes up then that's a bad idea. Which thankfully all they are looking for is a emotional response which is stopped as soon as you stare them dead in the in the eye and tell them to fuck off then no one bothered me again. Of course that was also after I punched him in the face that morning.[/QUOTE] Not everybody has the capacity to do that, especially students who suffer from mental or physical disability.
Schools are an example of what terrible administration geared only towards "making students smarter" for federal funding do behind the scenes. A lot of schools instantiate this odd and unusual eye for an eye punishment system, yet inflict much more damage on the person who broke down enough to do something about it after the administration not helping ever. In this case, this female went to the authority of school and presumably reported incidents multiple, if not hundreds of times before taking it into her own hands. Schools need to understand that if a person with little to no record before snaps, and destroys another person with many reports geared towards them, they could have prevented it by taking action in the first place.
As someone who was ganged up on by 50+ at [I]once[/I], i SAW the teachers deliberately leave the area, they knew what was going to happen I guess it's easier for teachers if they just so happen to 'not be there' / 'not see' what happened so that they don't have to intervene, even if i reported it fuck all got done Broke down several times and seriously considered suicide, it was arguably the worst part of my life and still haunts me to this day, it's a shame that it's just considered 'a part of growing up/a part of secondary school' (at least in the UK where i'm from)
[QUOTE=wauterboi;50213946]I encourage everyone to watch BULLY on Netflix for a better insight as to why this school is probably just as garbage as the next in not disciplining or ridding of terrible kids.[/QUOTE] I went to school in missouri, so true, if a kid defended himself against some piece of shit, he/she got in the same amount of trouble as the person that instigated or MORE in some cases. Fuck zero tolerance bullshit.
[QUOTE=Pascall;50215000]Not everybody has the capacity to do that, especially students who suffer from mental or physical disability.[/QUOTE] Anyone has the capacity to do it, even some people who suffer from mental problems have the capacity to do it. Now anyone who is bullying someone with a full on mental or physical disability that comes down to others to put a stop to it. It's also one of the few times I personally would condone violence if the bully was being violent to said disabled people. [QUOTE=kill3r;50215026]As someone who was ganged up on by 50+ at [I]once[/I], i SAW the teachers deliberately leave the area, they knew what was going to happen [/QUOTE] Holy fuck I've never heard of that happening.
[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;50214656][url]http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/suicide-statistics.html[/url] Looking at all these statistics is just absolutely disgusting Do schools even give a shit about mental illness? Do the governments even give a shit?[/QUOTE] My school had "depression awareness" week, in which we had several seminars/assemblies in which we learned to notice the signs of depression and how to help friends who we think could be depressed. We also watch pretty ridiculous video
[QUOTE=DELL;50215095]Anyone has the capacity to do it, even some people who suffer from mental problems have the capacity to do it. Now anyone who is bullying someone with a full on mental or physical disability that comes down to others to put a stop to it. It's also one of the few times I personally would condone violence if the bully was being violent to said disabled people. Holy fuck I've never heard of that happening.[/QUOTE] My cousin almost wrecked a high school he and I attended because there was a gang initiation on campus. In short, they beat the living shit out of him. This involved literally stomping his head into the ground as they tried to steal his phone. It seriously happened right in front of many classrooms. When my aunt went to pick up his kid, they didn't even bother cleaning up the blood off the walls, and it's surreal how no staff/faculty member went to his aid. My aunt got us into a way better magnet school by threatening to sue and threatening to take stuff to the news ASAP, which worked.
[QUOTE=sam6420;50214907]I've never even seen a bully in real life. The whole concept is so foreign to me.[/QUOTE] Not all bullies are physical. When I was in grade 5 I went to a new school and from the first day the one black kid in my class started bullying me for no reason. Being super racist, calling me a cracker and telling me to get a tan and shit. And then eventually it escalated to the point where he was physically attacking me whenever he got the opportunity. And that's when I stopped being a good student who loved going to school and got good grades in everything and became a not so good student with average grades and hating school.
The closest I've been to being bullied was in the 3rd grade these 2 girls told me I was "going to burn in Hell" for not saying a stupid lunch prayer that everyone else did, including the teacher.
I will say this: There's definitely good schools in Vegas when it comes to bullying, and it's generally the schools where you have to meet a certain criteria to stay in. In Vegas, it's the magnet schools where there's no zoned kids. It's where you have to stay at above a 2.5 GPA, and you can get kicked out for various reasons. The reason this works is it keeps the roughly same types of people together in an area where they [I]want[/I] to learn. I had a "jock" kind-of-a-friend that was reporting kids for bullying, and this school was one where I could basically vibe well enough with everyone. I knew most people, talked with most people, and worked with them too. That also delves into some of the mantras of the school, with a huge emphasis on projects and team-building. It was a requirement for classes to do that. The school we were previously at was a magnet school that didn't do any of that, and the "magnet" was tacked on because they had classes for radio and IT. They were all jokes though, and with the zoned kids around almost all of the computers were routinely destroyed. Hardly anyone showed up to school, which decreased funding, and all money was funneled into sports. (Thankfully, shortly after we left they were forced to stop doing that.) My experiences there were a mixture of hilarious, but also pretty terrible. I remember the gym locker room being ripe for bullying, especially over sex. I think that the best way to stop bullying is to craft schools so that it's exclusive - not exclusive in terms of shelling out cash, but exclusive in terms of GPA and whether or not people are causing problems. I remember knowing all my staff members and they were all practically like caring aunts and mothers. I enjoyed all of the staff and I felt safe at my new school. I also remember them tearing up terrible students saying, "What is wrong with you? Do you actually want to be here? We can send you straight to your zoned school if you don't want to be here. Get your act together or get out." It was inverted at my first school, though. My first high school had a staff that didn't give a shit. And since there were zoned kids, who cared? What are you going to do? Kick them out of the magnet program? They're still there.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.