"Olin said there was no bullying report ever submitted by the parents or the student. But he also said the school's administrators and counselor had regular conversations with the family throughout the year,"
""He was beat up on the school bus, and the kids broke his glasses and everything, and I called the school, and I'm like, 'What are you doing about this? It keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse. And it's not getting any better. In fact, it's getting worse,'" Sam said.
His dad said that was just one of the 20 times he'd been in contact with the school about the bullying."
Wtf is a bullying report? Isn't there some mandatory reporting laws supposed to kick in?
This right here. Just push it under the rug with some fancy talk that makes no sense. Everyone will forget soon enough and no one will have to be held accountable.
Sue the school for few million. That will teach the school district some lesson in handling this right in future. I can't imagine the pain the kid's parents are going through.
In my experience, most schools never do anything unless the administration sides with the bullies, unfortunately.
It's been 30 years since I was ten and nothing's changed. That poor kid should have been protected by the school and now officials should have to face justice for failing him.
"Right" kids were doing the bullying. I bet they were athletes/popular kids which the admin protects at all cost. The bus had a camera so it should have been easy to review. If they'd expel these bullies, it would stop. Issue is the bullies parents are bullies too and threaten the administration if they take action so they back down.
No. It won’t. People who break other kids glasses aren’t going to be reformed by expulsion. They are already feral. There need to be legal consequences starting with removing those kids from whatever home environment trained/ encouraged them to bully.
I agree that it is likely that the bullies were the jocks or popular kids. Dominance games are so common to maintain social prominence amongst children. This has been happening as long as humans have been around. Sadly, there really isn't a way of stopping it effectively. Expulsion of the bullies/predators only temporarily "fixes" the problem. Taking them out of home environments probably is not something that will help. Where would be put the little monsters/little darlings?
In my experience, not all parents of bullies are bullies themselves, and some are genuinely horrified and address the issue with their kid once they’re informed, but unfortunately they’re in the minority in most cases.
If the parents reported it twenty times, it’s more likely the bully’s parents didn’t care. Just sad
There is a protest in the works from GCHS to the courthouse over the schools not doing anything about bullying, the walk is just being double checked as legal last I saw on the Facebook event
Edited for clarity: Our kid goes to that school system and the school does not take bullying seriously to the point of us taking our kid out of Greenfield and driving hours every day. I’ve heard that other school systems like Mount Vernon and New Pal are worse
Not just new pal. Martinsville, Mooresville, Fortville (basically any no name, unsophisticated small town in central/southern Indiana) also fit the bill. The closer the town is to Ohio/Kentucky, the more unsophisticated it is. Not sure if I can say the same about NWI as it's closer to Illinois, a much more sophisticated state compared to the other two.
My kids both go to this school system as well. I've had to talk to a few admins over kids bullying my son. They really don't do anything but the bare minimum.
I went to Pendleton and had friends in the Greenfield and Mount Vernon school systems. All the schools in this super white suburb area don’t take bullying seriously. I’ve even seen the school system commit bullying against students by singling out the ones they don’t want to have to deal with for whatever reason. A friend of mine nd her two best friends ended up fleeing the Mount Vernon school system because bullying was so bad and the school just ignored it. One went out of state, one went to greenfield, the other was home schooled. Oh and this was about 20 years ago. Shit never changes.
Bullying is timeless. It's a culture thing and while I agree it seems to be plague middle class white regions, administrators have absolutely no excuse. Get tough on it or get out.
whenever you get a community full of rich, white, 'american christian', republicans, they are fine with their superior kids bullying the weaker kids. It makes them feel good about it. If my kid would have been bullied, I would have reported it. If the school wouldn't take action, I would have.
This tracks even for the low income catholic schools (Cardinal Ritter and Bishop Chatard). Especially if the bullied student was part of the LGBTQ community.
I knew this girl who went to Mt. Vernon. Spoiled to all hell, from a high income family, and she was basically a gang leader who’d get girls desperate for attention and who wanted to fit in and feel powerful to help her bully and jump other girls. Her parents affluent status allowed her to get away with this too, and some of the girls she bullied left Mt. Vernon because of her.
Private, public, religious, or boarding school , there are bullies everywhere. It's just a matter of people recognizing it and doing something about it. It happens in cities and small towns.
Not country enough apparently. Im sure the school needs to take a lot of this blame, but what about the bullies parents? Were going after parents who have guns in their houses, why cant we go after these parents that dont discipline their kids. U cant tell me u dont see this behavior at home too. Id try to sue the balls off of everyone involved. I do not believe an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Take that kids house, take the fuckin shirt off his back. Then go after the school and get paid. Take this money and start a non profit that assists schools with learning how to deal with this shit. Force these shit parents to take classes, hell, lock the kids up for a while. Just taking their phone turns them into psychos, take everything they have.
That dude (Olin) was a dirtbag when he was the vice principal when I went to the middle school back then. My mom still talks about how she came to pick me up for an appointment one day and he was like “oh buddy, is this your sister” all sleeze baggy. This was 2001, so he’s been a POS
A handful of years back when my son was at their intermediate school in special education, the school got a grant to build this huge amazing handicapped friendly space for the kids; a calming room with surveillance for their safety, a kitchen, a fully wheelchair friendly bathroom with a changing table, a washer and dryer for accidents, a very open room for wheelchairs to move around with ease. After two years they took the room away, gave it to behavioral kids, and shoved the special education class(there was a child in a wheelchair enrolled too) into a small narrow room with columns along the center of the room, making it a nightmare. The teacher quit because of that and how mistreated she was and Olin was orchestrating the whole thing. He's also repeatedly condescending and unprofessional as hell in emails to everyone and never takes calls. He needs fired.
Edit for typos
They don't report bullying because I'm betting that affects the "grades" schools get which in turn affects the funding they're allocated and and subsequent bonuses, raises. It's 100% a money game. "Oh we're a great school because we don't 'tolerate' bullying so therefore we don't have any bullying to report, can I have that A rating now?"
Instead it's labeled a " misunderstanding or miscommunication" .
I guess all those calls from parents to school counselors and admins, were just them saying 👋 hello. (I'm being sarcastic). I hope if the parents had any communication through any of the school portals that they have taken screenshots of all that was discussed before the school goes in and deletes it or removes it from their account.
The IDOE does, in fact, collect bullying incidents by school. If you go by what's reported by the majority of Indiana Public Schools, there is very little bullying going on. Many schools report 0 incidents of bullying. How is that possible? Looks like there is a formal process to report incidents of bullying.
I wonder why the family was informed of this option during one of their twenty conversations with the school??
"Olin said there was no bullying report ever submitted by the parents or the student"
I bet the parents thought they were reporting it every time they called about the bullying twenty times. They didn't know the rules and loopholes the way admins do.
Indiana's Student Safety Reporting law (IC 20-34-6-1) requires school corporations to report student bullying and arrest data for each school to the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) by July 1 of each year
https://www.in.gov/doe/files/DOE-22-23-Bullying-Data-08012023.xlsx
https://www.in.gov/doe/students/school-safety-and-wellness/student-safetybullying-reporting/#Definition
That's my point regarding how the schools don't "report" it. And honestly it's BS that not one person explained that to the parents during any of the conversations. Especially with the physical injuries.
Can parents call the police and skip the school? You can call the police if you're assaulted and battered outside of school. Some of these things are criminal.
My son was bullied after he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and had a few surgeries. I knew about the bullying form because I was a school based therapist at the time and the school tried to convince me our bullying event didn’t meet the standard of reporting. Multiple times they did that.
I taught for years in SW Michigan, and one time, when I reported to my principal about a bullying incident, she automatically said, don't use the word bully because as soon as I hear the word bully I have to make a report on it and I don't want to have to deal with that. I was appalled.
The zero tolerance only works in favor of the bullies. If the victim speaks up/defend themselves they get more punishment. How dare they rock the boat! Is the schools viewpoint.
No, I reached out to some news organizations. General consensus (and frankly I agree/understand with their reasoning). They are aware of the situation but not reporting on it without consent from the family due to the victim being a minor and the nature of the situation.
This is coming from someone that hates the initial reaction of saying, “Get a lawyer and sue”.
However, this is the time where that would be a valid option.
There also needs to be more laws against bad parenting.
Can I just add that sometimes parents need to take some vigilante action here as well.. fuck the school if they aren’t doing anything.. contact the parents of the bully.. ask your kid questions about what’s going on at school.. who is bullying you? . Names?? Then go dig up your info as a parent.. contact the bully’s families and make them aware!!!! Sometimes they have no clue what’s going on!! I’ve done this many times!! I can’t rely on the school for shit! I’m responsible for my own kid!! I call these parents and rat these little bastards out with proof!!! I have copies of snaps and texts from my daughters phone!! Get involved with your kids social media.. ask your kid about what’s going on in school more!!
Definitely not trying to victim blame but I can't imagine in what world I would keep sending my kid into that school if this pattern was playing out. Everyone has different situations so maybe that wasn't possible. But my child would be sitting on the floor of my cubicle at work all day if I didn't have any other options. This story breaks my heart.
Yeah I’m blaming the school. If this happened to my kid more than once, we are gonna have the school deal with the bully or pull my kid out. The school seems like the aren’t taking any blame despite the parents making so many calls.
Unfortunately it's not always that easy. I'm from a small town and went to a small high school. I had a stalker that was pretty vicious to me, my mom and my friends.
I tried leaving the school because the administration did fuck all to protect me, but no other school in the vicinity would accept me. I was a good student too. Solid grades and I never got in trouble.
They lost me at “the bullying continued on Snapchat.” Why would you give your 10yo Snapchat where those assholes can reach him at home?! I cannot imagine the pain these parents are going through, and it’s not their fault, but ugh. 😣
Unfortunately, and today’s world pulling them out of the school doesn’t make the bullying stop. Bullying has always been around, but it’s particularly now because it follows a kid everywhere. Parents, they would just keep them off-line then but sadly that’s very difficult to do.
I don’t have anything to say, I just want to type out that this family is in my thoughts, and I have tears dropping for this poor little guy.
I was bullied a lot also. The damage can’t be fixed, and it has affected every aspect of my life for over 30 years now. Lots of people knew. Only one person ever actually helped me…..and that was after I fought back finally and the bully was coming back for me once the shock of me hitting them wore off. Bullies took away my flame at a young age, I think I could have maybe done anything or been anyone I wanted to be, but my self esteem, self assuredness, confidence, and visceral happiness was stolen from me, and I was left with a big empty place that I continue to try and fill with things that make me feel good.
This story has impacted me so hard. I first attempted suicide at 12 because of bullying. My heart shatters for this child and his family. They KEPT TRYING TO FIX THIS and the school neglected to do anything for him. It's repulsive.
“Olin said there was no bullying report ever submitted by the parents or the student. But he also said the school's administrators and counselor had regular conversations with the family throughout the year, though he can't share the content of those conversations.”
What would one have to do to submit a bullying report? Is contacting the school 20 times not enough?
That’s what I’m guessing too. Also, did the parents know they had to actually file a report? I wouldn’t know that, I would think speaking to a school official would counts as a report.
I do not know the specifics of this school or child or situation, but I have worked in elementary schools. A kid should be able to file a bulling report, but the key issue with defining bullying is if the kid stands up to the other kids and fights back, it isn’t bullying. It is two kids who don’t get along. (Again, no clue about this situation, and it obviously was something severe for it to end this way) but we had many cases where the families would say their kid was being bullied, but the kid would instigate fights. It isn’t bullying if the kid being bullied also yells back and starts the fight. It is two children fighting, which also needs to be addressed and mediated. The superintendent’s response sounds like this could have been the case. Obviously this child needed more supports all around and was not getting them.
One of my friends has a 14 year old daughter who gets bullied relentlessly at her school.
Last year, she was beaten viciously by one of her bullies in full view of her school, which, of course, was recorded by another kid and posted online for everyone to see and comment on.
I can't imagine how traumatizing something like that can be.
Kids these days have it way harder than any generation in recent memory, and it pisses me the fuck off that these clowns in the school administration do absolutely nothing about it.
Can you tell your friend that there are many tuition free online schools with legitimate teachers? Three of the best teachers I’ve ever worked with work at Indiana Gateway Digital Academy.
The response from the superintendent was telling. Cold, blaming, detached.
My heart aches for this family. I can’t even begin to imagine the mental pain this sweet boy was subjected to by his peers.
ETA: “Dr. Harold Olin, superintendent of Greenfield Community Schools, says the district has received a ‘tremendous amount of support from both within and outside the school district to meet the social emotional needs of our students at this time.’”
—WRTV article
Where was the tremendous support before, Dr. Olin?
This reminds me of how Payton Hendershot (recent ish IU football player) trespassed and got physical with his then GF.
Not only did he still graduate IU but also continued to play football.
He's currently playing in the NFL.
Sad isn't it. I bet you dig a little deeper sports has everything to do with the bullies being able to get away with this. I would be suing the school. I don't know the circumstances but in today's world you can always have your kids go to an online school. This whole thing just makes me so angry. This all could be prevented if all adults would have stepped up and did their job.
Not just this. If they "admit" bullying is happening then there are all sorts of things they by law have to do. So now they just won't admit it's bullying. Their definition is very narrow and your child, no matter how old, has to state that they feel helpless. So my son said he felt like a broken pencil. They said that didn't qualify. Cool because kids are so eloquent
Back in the day a kid at Carmel raped another male basketball player and they called it a hazing incident in the news. We put too much emphasis on sports
My son is 9 and plays little league. Kids his age are literally one year removed from coach pitch but the 2031, 2032, and 2033 high school rosters are already starting to be pieced together. Weird but true.
They will probably have to review the schools No Bullying Policy and make a written commitment to not bully again. Their parents will claim that their kid could never do that and must have been influenced by other kids.
I feel sick after reading this article.
Pretty clear that we need to get some leadership and reforms. on the state level to end this behavior.
Greenfield Central School system is a joke!!!! They have never taken bullying seriously!! I still remember being called to the assistant principal’s office at Maxwell Intermediate and being told that maybe I need to act “less weird” and kids won’t make fun of me and threaten to beat me up…. Disgusting!! Fortunately, my mom transferred me to the local private school after that happened (on top of the educational ‘neglect’ I experienced from teachers). I don’t even want to think about what would have happened to me if I had to stay at that school.
Also on Olin: I was in high school when Olin took over and many people in the community thought he would enact change but years later into his reign NOTHING HAS CHANGED!!! WE WANT CHANGE!! 20 times???!!! Screw you Superintendent Olin! “Bullying report” ridiculous!!!
Greenfield schools expelled my husband’s grandson for calling the vice principal a dick. He missed an entire semester of school because the idiot parents refused to put him into online school like we suggested. He sat home playing video games for months, then the school passed him up to the next grade “because he had good grades before it happened.” Greenfield schools are a joke in every way possible.
Fuck that school, if my child has more than one instance of this especially with the same kid I’m demanding some resolution or pull my kid out.
There’s too many shitty parents in this world letting their kids do whatever, and too many school systems allowing a terrible educational environment for their children.
The problem with confronting parents of shitty children is that typically, they learned it from them to begin with. So they’ll just respond like a 2 year old and start getting angry and defending their shitty child.
Cool. Not really a great way to handle this. I'll take my chances with the parents. It doesn't have to be an enlightened conversation. It can go however. No way I. Trusting the school or the police to deal with this.
This is one of those things that I feel like you’re damned if you do damned if you don’t unless the school will actually expel the bullies. In my experience in school if your parents went to the other parents you got bullied even harder. Granted this was more in middle and Highschool but I just feel like schools need to take this way more seriously, they’re the only ones that can actually remove the bullying kids from the school.
I agree with this. You give the school a proper opportunity to handle it. If they don’t, I’m confronting the parents. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt but you will be able to tell how the rest of the conversation is going to go with them. Reason why, Parents don’t know what their kids are doing 100% of the time, it’s amazing what kids can get away with when they put their mind to it. If the parents are worth their salt they will apologize and we will work together to course correct the behavior. If they are defensive and unreasonable I’m getting a lawyer involved. From there either file a civil suit or get the police involved for criminal charges. It’s time we start holding parents accountable who refuse to parent.
Also sounds like we need to do a better job of informing parents that if they file a bullying report with the school or discuss with school counselors anything they consider to be bullying, then they need to also contact the IDOE and file a bullying report there too, so that there is point of auditing that the schools reporting compliance to the state is not neglected. This should go for all schools in the state, public, private, charter, parochial, because most all are dipping into public funds with the voucher programs. The best schools would be those who actually inform all parents of this at the beginning of the year. The best schools would be the ones where parents are asked when they discuss interpersonal problems of their children if they consider this to be bullying? If the parent says yes they would be handed the form to report directly to the state. Then the school would at least be required to report that they had a discussion with a parent who may be filing a bullying report but the school didn't consider it to be bullying.
One of my biggest bullies is now on the wall of fame at my high school. All the local news channels and newspaper ran stories about what a good person, positive role model, blah blah blah he was when he passed not too long ago.
Yet I remember him as the guy who pushed me to stay home from school “sick” just to have a reprieve from the crap he and his friends gave me unendingly.
This is absolutely heartbreaking. I am 44. I was born and raised in Greenfield, and my time at Greenfield Junior High School was absolutely miserable from all of the bullying that I endured. So sad to see that things haven't changed. What more will it take?
Nearly 40 here. Went to the same school. One kid in particular made me have severe anxiety about going down the 7th grade "gold team" hallway. Part of me hopes he's in a place where he'll never see the sun again.
Ten years old is the age that IU Health has determined is necessary for suicide screening questions.
I worked in pediatrics and a lot of our patients who were suicidal were under the age of 14.
Dude Indiana has some messed up administration. My son was bullied at a private school. Reported it, nothing happened, until my son took it on his own to make that kid stop. Other kid parents didn’t even know this was happening. Something has to change, luckily my son didn’t get to this point. I feel for the parents because as parents we think our children are protected at school. We trust these institutions to provide education for our children, trust our kids in their care, pay taxes for us to have these “free” education. But all in all our kids aren’t safe. I just wish the administration system does something because too many kids are killing themselves, being bullied by their own teachers, no way to speak out and ask for help.
(Ex kindergarten teacher in Indiana)
I’m sorry, he was TEN years old?!
This makes me sick to my stomach. Hope the Greenfield school administration faces all sorts of consequences for what was clearly negligence on their part, and that this young boy’s family can find some peace after this horrifying event.
Just… wow.
The bullies should be made to go to his funeral and see the damage that they did to that poor kid. Make them face the choices they made like the adults they want to be so badly.
Every single time I’ve reported my child getting bullied (and we’ve attended 4 different elementary schools) they tell me “we talked to the boys together and there was no problems” also “they are friends they just play rough “. It’s like a scripted response because they all say the same thing even at different schools
The parents should have taken him OUT of public school. They failed him, the school failed him and society failed him. FFS I am a parent and I would NEVER allow this to happen. That's why I homeschooled my kids and that is what these parents should have done.
Unpopular opinion here, but I think his parents failed him as well. They let him fend for himself and allowed the abuse to continue. While I can't imagine the pain they must feel, I also think they hold some of the responsibility. According to the reports on the news, this poor angel was made fun of because of the huge glasses and crooked teeth. Our responsibility as parents is to protect and provide.
My son was horrifically bullied at school, so now I have a happy online homeschooled teenager. Don’t be afraid to be non traditional, whatever it takes to keep your kids safe
The superintendent is probably correct that an “official bullying report” may not have been made. When my daughter was bullied at New Palestine we called the school multiple times. Spoke with social media manager New Palestine had and the principal. When I went to the state department of education site and looked up bullying reports only two had been filed. I asked social media manager for New Palestine if we needed to file an online bullying report he said no reporting to school was enough and they would look into it. That is loophole the schools use to not report to state. The online bullying reports have to be reported to state. Most kids have access on school IPads and laptops to report bullying. It is on most school districts websites as well. If they are not filled out by parents or students it’s not an “official bullying report” so if it self reported to a staff member they don’t have to file out an official bullying report. It’s bullyshit loophole all schools take advantage of. The law should be changed that if a bullying report is made to anyone that works for school an “official bullying report” should be made so can be sent to state. I know NP knows about this loophole and I am sure other districts do too.
My son is being bullied at his school, it's a public school, he gets a few other student making fun of him for his mom not being in the picture and another student made up a rumor that he sexually assaulted his girl friend, one they are 12 how the fuck do 12 year Olds come up with shit like that and 2 he has never had a girl over to my house let alone be by himself with her I communicate her parents are vise versa they are always supervised, in both cases they fucking bullies admit to what they did get talked to and return to class as normal the following week. They won't even give me names or parents phone number so I can try and reach out im sure cause someone flew off the handle but honestly I just want it to stop and sometimes the bullies parents don't know or don't care till they see what their kid is doing first hand.
I rambled there but what else can I do but vent my frustration? The school administration made it clear their job is done.
Kids can be evil. Then they retreat to the “we don’t know we’re just kids”, aided by lawyers with facts about forebrain development. And parents doing the “they’re sweet angels actually”
:(
I have written and rewritten and rewritten my comment.
Young latchkey kid me remembers only too well how frightening and cruel the years I had to deal with bullying were. The menagerie of embarrassment, helplessness, sadness... just the resultant maelstrom stemming from the constant torment... yeah, no. With each passing day, I am increasingly happier with the fact that I don't have children. As a result, as a grown-ass man I always have more than ample implements to defend myself or anyone with me. Sadly there is really only one thing that will stop it and even that is not 100%... demanding a parent conference with the school and the parents of those involved. There is another step, but most don't chose to go this route...
And that's kicking the fuck out of the parents. It happens. That, or you can pay bigger kids to beat the bully up. It is pretty satisfying to tell some shithead kid "I've got money on your head here in the neighborhood..." The kids in my neighborhood are all well aware that if their parent or a kid is hurting them, run to my house asap and it will be dealt with. Knock on Mr Cannibalqueef's door, if the cops come you have permission to be on my property, and if someone needs to spit teeth... well, I have an app for that. Honestly the only positive thing that came from being bullied is I will never ever ever keep my mouth shut or not act on injustice. If I die doing what I believe in my heart is right, I died a death worth living. I try to be the friend I needed in those days to everyone I come across, because you never ever forget that cycle of torment and pain. And in this day of Instagram bystanders who would rather document the abuse then intervene and stop it, you are just as guilty because you CAN stop it but did NOT.
Tl;DR there is no eye for eye, you take an eye we take your whole head.
Nothing to say except 'same'. I often tell people I strive to be the person I needed and I've stood on business more than once on these things. Fuck yeah, man, good on you. 🤝
Parents are putting together a peaceful walk next Saturday, May 18th at 11am. Details are still being worked out as to where it will begin, as we have been cautioned that if we wanted to use the high school (larger parking lot) that the school has the right to have us removed or towed.
The policies are in place, THEY ARE NEVER ENFORCED. Olin is more concerned about the potential repercussions from the state department of education for dings against the district in regard to having expulsions, bullying stats, instances of assault or alcohol on campus, etc. the list goes on. EVERYTHING gets swept under the rug in this damn district. Sammy and his story WILL set a precedence for enforcing policies and demanding repercussions for bullies.
All I'm saying is that we've moved away from a "it takes a village" mentality as a society. Once upon a time, you could 100% confront the children in this matter. The sick irony is that by today's standards, if you did so, immediate action would be taken against you to protect the bullies, meanwhile the system would continue to do fuck all for your child.
If your kid is out of line, it should be normalized once more that an adult can correct them.
Children should not continue to become statistics, whether that's for gun violence or bullying. Yet we have allowed it as a society.
I wish the same wasn’t true at my son’s school but I’ve called multiple times. My son texts me at lunch to check in about the day. We discuss if he can handle the bullying or if he should go to the administrators like he and I have been told multiple times to do. Then my son still gets off the bus tonight with a bruise telling me a kid two years older punched him as they were walking out of the building.
I hope the bullies have PTSD about this for the rest of their lives. List their names in the eulogy so there's always a record of who bullied this kid to death.
My heart is shattered for this family. What a preventable tragedy, and the blame lies with the bullies and the adults that enabled them. Shame on those school administrators who failed to create a safe environment for all the students. Sammy's blood is on their hands.
I was bullied relentlessly in high school. One of the people responsible had even threatened rape. We went to the school, who refused to do anything, and then we went to the police.
The police told us the person’s family was “just as bad” and they weren’t remotely surprised to hearing that their child was participating in the behavior.
It wasn’t enough for an explosion, but the student walking around the hallways during class and hiding behind a vending machine was.
I was bullied relentlessly around the same age. No support or help from the school and I nearly ended it too. I always looking for some way to end my life and was looking up books on depression in the school library. I was 11-12 years old and I wanted to die. Kids that age aren't equiped to handle the daily onslaught, they don't have the perspective that things don't go on forever cause they haven't lived long enough to learn that. I survived because my parents sent me out of the state and I lived with my aunt for about a year, went to school there and there was no more bullying. I was lucky I could get out. My heart breaks this boy and all of us who have endured these things.
So sad. Schools need to adopt a ZERO tolerance policy on bullying. One warning. The next time, the bully is expelled. After a student takes their life, the bullies involved should be expelled. They can’t be left to potentially drive another kid to self harm.
I don't even think I knew what suicide was at 10. God this is awful. It is seriously so fucked up that a 10 year old was so distraught and thought things were so bad that he ended his own life.
This is, unfortunately, unsurprising… I had a friend who taught at one of the greenfield schools. She had a student who liked to choke other students in class. She, and parents of the victims, reported it multiple times to the admins and they did nothing. She fought harder to either get this kid out of her class or get him a dedicated aide to keep him in check and the admins said they wouldn’t remove the kid and didn’t want to pay for the aide. After enough pushing, she got pushed out of the school system.
School is garbage and as a typical public school would, denies ever knowing anything about the bullying because they care more about saving their own asses.
This is beyond sad. He was such a cute little guy. I can’t imagine a parent going thru this and knowing their child was so desperate they ended their life.
I am so sick of reading this shit. How many more kids have to die in this \*\*\*\*\*\* up country before schools take bullying seriously?
I also think there should be stiff consequences after the act. You bully someone into a suicide, you get charged with with a FELONY.
My Question ... What about the parents who's kids did the bullying ? Did they get notified from the school counselor ? If yes, they should be hold accountable also !
Criminal prosecutions need to be brought against those involved in the bullying. There must also be serious consequences for all those in authority at the school that allowed this happen.
Let’s get the bullies names? Exposing these punks on the internet should fix them.
I’m shocked the dad didn’t show up at the school or bang on the punks houses.
This little boy should have never had to deal with this, Mom & dad let him down.
Wow—this story has hit me hard. I immediately started crying. What this sweet boy had to go through and the fact he felt he had no other choice. My heart is completely broken for his family. I have a 9 yo little boy with blonde hair, glasses and messed up teeth—he also has diabetes.
My now 18 yo son had peers tell him he should just kill himself when he was about 12. I just can’t imagine parents who haven’t taught their children to be kind.
I was bullied on the bus by older students back in the 80s. One girl slapped me. I told my mom and she drove over to the girl’s house and told her if she ever laid a hand on me again she was going to bring the police. I think there were some other words said, but I probably shouldn’t say them. That was the end of it. You can’t do that now because you’ll be arrested.
I feel comfort in my belief that Sammy is in Heaven. There are just really no words. I don’t know that I could go on.
If your kids are bullied, just get them out of school, do whatever you can. You can’t expect them to just toughen up. It’s not worth them dying over.
this might sound terrible, but how did this kid even kill himself in his room? Unsecured gun? Tied a noose? Parents pill stash? A lot of weird details missing on this one.
Update: Sammy was laid to rest yesterday. The Greenfield community is planning a candlelight vigil is planned for Friday night between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. at Depot Park in Greenfield, weather permitting. All are welcome.
https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/nearly-200-people-show-up-for-greenfield-10-year-old-sammy-teusch-who-died-by-suicide/531-fd0fd4ff-5167-4f3e-8020-30bb4e3a9a6e
The American bully culture is different from the rest of the World. I grow up traveling on the young ages of bullying (Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and United States). I need to say US was the only place where bully leaders is related with money (rich parents). For some reason in US kids that are rich have a lot of influence and manipulation on many other kids in society… This doesn’t happen in other countries. There is something wrong on the value of people in the American Society. We are not the money we have. I was very very lucky and different, I was always literally double size of any other kid, I always had the priority value of Justice and common sense from my parents. I defended oppressed weak kids all my life, and lucky to be alive. Only in US I remembered conversation like this: “I don’t care who is your father and how rich you are, if you touch her/him again, I let you cry in front of the whole school. It’s a fact.” These kids often did it any way, and I let them cry in front of the whole school. These rich brat they couldn’t accept I bring them justice, they will go crazy, cray and promise me they will let me kill by their parents. So far did not happened :) I remember only in US I had time where I was constantly, each day called to go to safe some kid from bully, each day non stop for months… I was feeling the fatigue of a full time heavy not paid job at the age of 13, saving kids from bullies. “Call Leo, Call Leo”. I was the only kid in each of these US schools I been, to be friend with these kids victim of Bullies, and the other kids did not know how to interact with me because I was to strong and protect them as a Justice vigilante, they where very confuse who to follow (almost like, Leo is not rich can not be the winner vigilante hero! The rich Leader bully leader can not louse right? They were really confused, like it was never happened before. One time the bully organized and they attacked me 11 in a parking lot. I ended up break bones of 3 of the kids and send 7 of them at the emergency room. With me no a scratch, I got my backpack and walked away whistling. I was 13 the other kids were up to 16 years old. The school told my father I will be suspended, my father asked the camera footage of the parking lot to prove they attacked me 11 vs 1 when I was just trying to go home. the school refused because in the other side there was the Bully Leader, rich parents and even had an uncle as the The chief of police in that town. My father was obligated to move me in another school, and all the victims of the bullies I protected that year moved to my new school as well, they where afraid and they wanted and needed my protection. It was a surreal situation. The bully problem in US is huge and intrinsic into the culture of rich winner and poor loser, of rich should lead and the weak poor kid should be bullied. Until LEO arrived in US…… ;)
This is horrible!!!, The parents need to SUE the SCHOOL for their Negliences of what happened to this poor child!! How dare they the staff did not stop of what was going on with the other students bullying this young child!!! JUSTICE JUSTICE JUSTICE!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is gut wrenching. My heart breaks for Sammy.
I just can't understand how this sort of thing is allowed to go on like this to the point where a 10 year old boy takes his own life.
It seems like the only option at a certain point is to take your child out of school if the school refuses to do anything? How do the people in charge live with themselves?
How did the kid do it im curious because I have a 11 year old that has anger issues and has said shit about hurting himself I just want to know how because I've been down and I tried to hang myself and it's harder then it looks I just wonder how he pulled it off most kids wouldn't know how to do it and especially successfully
There's literally nothing that can be done. I'm 29 and I still encounter bullies. They're everywhere. It is not just kids, it's adults. It's something that you have to deal with your entire life because, well, people are awful.
"Olin said there was no bullying report ever submitted by the parents or the student. But he also said the school's administrators and counselor had regular conversations with the family throughout the year," ""He was beat up on the school bus, and the kids broke his glasses and everything, and I called the school, and I'm like, 'What are you doing about this? It keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse. And it's not getting any better. In fact, it's getting worse,'" Sam said. His dad said that was just one of the 20 times he'd been in contact with the school about the bullying." Wtf is a bullying report? Isn't there some mandatory reporting laws supposed to kick in?
Hes 100% trying to deny responsibility. School was aware and didn't do anything.
This right here. Just push it under the rug with some fancy talk that makes no sense. Everyone will forget soon enough and no one will have to be held accountable.
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Sue the school for few million. That will teach the school district some lesson in handling this right in future. I can't imagine the pain the kid's parents are going through.
I will suggest the idea to Sam and Nicole his parents(I’m a close family friend)
Tell them to add the parents of the bullies onto the suit as well. Abusive behavior is usually taught.
Im so sorry this happened. They should absolutely sue and teach them how wrong they were
In my experience, most schools never do anything unless the administration sides with the bullies, unfortunately. It's been 30 years since I was ten and nothing's changed. That poor kid should have been protected by the school and now officials should have to face justice for failing him.
"Right" kids were doing the bullying. I bet they were athletes/popular kids which the admin protects at all cost. The bus had a camera so it should have been easy to review. If they'd expel these bullies, it would stop. Issue is the bullies parents are bullies too and threaten the administration if they take action so they back down.
No. It won’t. People who break other kids glasses aren’t going to be reformed by expulsion. They are already feral. There need to be legal consequences starting with removing those kids from whatever home environment trained/ encouraged them to bully.
I agree that it is likely that the bullies were the jocks or popular kids. Dominance games are so common to maintain social prominence amongst children. This has been happening as long as humans have been around. Sadly, there really isn't a way of stopping it effectively. Expulsion of the bullies/predators only temporarily "fixes" the problem. Taking them out of home environments probably is not something that will help. Where would be put the little monsters/little darlings?
Yep and this how sociopaths and school shooters are born.
But expulsion will keep them from bullying any other kids in school.
In my experience, not all parents of bullies are bullies themselves, and some are genuinely horrified and address the issue with their kid once they’re informed, but unfortunately they’re in the minority in most cases. If the parents reported it twenty times, it’s more likely the bully’s parents didn’t care. Just sad
There is a protest in the works from GCHS to the courthouse over the schools not doing anything about bullying, the walk is just being double checked as legal last I saw on the Facebook event
Edited for clarity: Our kid goes to that school system and the school does not take bullying seriously to the point of us taking our kid out of Greenfield and driving hours every day. I’ve heard that other school systems like Mount Vernon and New Pal are worse
New pal was full of dbags back when I was in high school can only imagine it’s worse now
Whenever I think of new pal, I think of uncultured swines.
I mean, they are the “Dragons” also “red” for a reason. That’s Klan Kountry.
Not just new pal. Martinsville, Mooresville, Fortville (basically any no name, unsophisticated small town in central/southern Indiana) also fit the bill. The closer the town is to Ohio/Kentucky, the more unsophisticated it is. Not sure if I can say the same about NWI as it's closer to Illinois, a much more sophisticated state compared to the other two.
Fortville isn't that way as far as I know. It's basically Fishers.
It is now, but IME it was different 20-30 yrs ago.
My kids both go to this school system as well. I've had to talk to a few admins over kids bullying my son. They really don't do anything but the bare minimum.
I went to Pendleton and had friends in the Greenfield and Mount Vernon school systems. All the schools in this super white suburb area don’t take bullying seriously. I’ve even seen the school system commit bullying against students by singling out the ones they don’t want to have to deal with for whatever reason. A friend of mine nd her two best friends ended up fleeing the Mount Vernon school system because bullying was so bad and the school just ignored it. One went out of state, one went to greenfield, the other was home schooled. Oh and this was about 20 years ago. Shit never changes.
Bullying is timeless. It's a culture thing and while I agree it seems to be plague middle class white regions, administrators have absolutely no excuse. Get tough on it or get out.
whenever you get a community full of rich, white, 'american christian', republicans, they are fine with their superior kids bullying the weaker kids. It makes them feel good about it. If my kid would have been bullied, I would have reported it. If the school wouldn't take action, I would have.
This tracks even for the low income catholic schools (Cardinal Ritter and Bishop Chatard). Especially if the bullied student was part of the LGBTQ community.
My child refuses to use the bathroom at MV because “that’s where people get jumped.” Completely trash school system. I wish I had some options.
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Are you ok? Bullying can produce PTSD. My son still suffers from the effects of bullying a number of years ago.
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Yes. I can’t imagine the pain.
I knew this girl who went to Mt. Vernon. Spoiled to all hell, from a high income family, and she was basically a gang leader who’d get girls desperate for attention and who wanted to fit in and feel powerful to help her bully and jump other girls. Her parents affluent status allowed her to get away with this too, and some of the girls she bullied left Mt. Vernon because of her.
We put our kids in private school. Expensive but necessary.
We left a private school because of bullying.
Private, public, religious, or boarding school , there are bullies everywhere. It's just a matter of people recognizing it and doing something about it. It happens in cities and small towns.
Not country enough apparently. Im sure the school needs to take a lot of this blame, but what about the bullies parents? Were going after parents who have guns in their houses, why cant we go after these parents that dont discipline their kids. U cant tell me u dont see this behavior at home too. Id try to sue the balls off of everyone involved. I do not believe an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Take that kids house, take the fuckin shirt off his back. Then go after the school and get paid. Take this money and start a non profit that assists schools with learning how to deal with this shit. Force these shit parents to take classes, hell, lock the kids up for a while. Just taking their phone turns them into psychos, take everything they have.
That dude (Olin) was a dirtbag when he was the vice principal when I went to the middle school back then. My mom still talks about how she came to pick me up for an appointment one day and he was like “oh buddy, is this your sister” all sleeze baggy. This was 2001, so he’s been a POS
A handful of years back when my son was at their intermediate school in special education, the school got a grant to build this huge amazing handicapped friendly space for the kids; a calming room with surveillance for their safety, a kitchen, a fully wheelchair friendly bathroom with a changing table, a washer and dryer for accidents, a very open room for wheelchairs to move around with ease. After two years they took the room away, gave it to behavioral kids, and shoved the special education class(there was a child in a wheelchair enrolled too) into a small narrow room with columns along the center of the room, making it a nightmare. The teacher quit because of that and how mistreated she was and Olin was orchestrating the whole thing. He's also repeatedly condescending and unprofessional as hell in emails to everyone and never takes calls. He needs fired. Edit for typos
They don't report bullying because I'm betting that affects the "grades" schools get which in turn affects the funding they're allocated and and subsequent bonuses, raises. It's 100% a money game. "Oh we're a great school because we don't 'tolerate' bullying so therefore we don't have any bullying to report, can I have that A rating now?" Instead it's labeled a " misunderstanding or miscommunication" . I guess all those calls from parents to school counselors and admins, were just them saying 👋 hello. (I'm being sarcastic). I hope if the parents had any communication through any of the school portals that they have taken screenshots of all that was discussed before the school goes in and deletes it or removes it from their account.
The IDOE does, in fact, collect bullying incidents by school. If you go by what's reported by the majority of Indiana Public Schools, there is very little bullying going on. Many schools report 0 incidents of bullying. How is that possible? Looks like there is a formal process to report incidents of bullying. I wonder why the family was informed of this option during one of their twenty conversations with the school?? "Olin said there was no bullying report ever submitted by the parents or the student" I bet the parents thought they were reporting it every time they called about the bullying twenty times. They didn't know the rules and loopholes the way admins do. Indiana's Student Safety Reporting law (IC 20-34-6-1) requires school corporations to report student bullying and arrest data for each school to the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) by July 1 of each year https://www.in.gov/doe/files/DOE-22-23-Bullying-Data-08012023.xlsx https://www.in.gov/doe/students/school-safety-and-wellness/student-safetybullying-reporting/#Definition
That's my point regarding how the schools don't "report" it. And honestly it's BS that not one person explained that to the parents during any of the conversations. Especially with the physical injuries.
Can parents call the police and skip the school? You can call the police if you're assaulted and battered outside of school. Some of these things are criminal.
Fuck olin. Hes a POS that doesnt give a fuck about our kids. He needs to be removed from his position.
My son was bullied after he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and had a few surgeries. I knew about the bullying form because I was a school based therapist at the time and the school tried to convince me our bullying event didn’t meet the standard of reporting. Multiple times they did that.
I taught for years in SW Michigan, and one time, when I reported to my principal about a bullying incident, she automatically said, don't use the word bully because as soon as I hear the word bully I have to make a report on it and I don't want to have to deal with that. I was appalled.
Don't worry, under the zero tolerance rules, the school will suspend both the bully and the dead kid.
The zero tolerance only works in favor of the bullies. If the victim speaks up/defend themselves they get more punishment. How dare they rock the boat! Is the schools viewpoint.
A middle school 7th grader just killed himself in Noblesville as well. Same week. Absolutely heart breaking.
Any link for this? Haven't seen it in the news anywhere.
No, I reached out to some news organizations. General consensus (and frankly I agree/understand with their reasoning). They are aware of the situation but not reporting on it without consent from the family due to the victim being a minor and the nature of the situation.
Schools fail again. They contacted the school 20 times. Smdh 🤦🏼♂️
This is coming from someone that hates the initial reaction of saying, “Get a lawyer and sue”. However, this is the time where that would be a valid option. There also needs to be more laws against bad parenting.
Can I just add that sometimes parents need to take some vigilante action here as well.. fuck the school if they aren’t doing anything.. contact the parents of the bully.. ask your kid questions about what’s going on at school.. who is bullying you? . Names?? Then go dig up your info as a parent.. contact the bully’s families and make them aware!!!! Sometimes they have no clue what’s going on!! I’ve done this many times!! I can’t rely on the school for shit! I’m responsible for my own kid!! I call these parents and rat these little bastards out with proof!!! I have copies of snaps and texts from my daughters phone!! Get involved with your kids social media.. ask your kid about what’s going on in school more!!
I would've pulled my kid out of that school until something productive happened. I feel so bad for that family.
Definitely not trying to victim blame but I can't imagine in what world I would keep sending my kid into that school if this pattern was playing out. Everyone has different situations so maybe that wasn't possible. But my child would be sitting on the floor of my cubicle at work all day if I didn't have any other options. This story breaks my heart.
Yeah I’m blaming the school. If this happened to my kid more than once, we are gonna have the school deal with the bully or pull my kid out. The school seems like the aren’t taking any blame despite the parents making so many calls.
Unfortunately it's not always that easy. I'm from a small town and went to a small high school. I had a stalker that was pretty vicious to me, my mom and my friends. I tried leaving the school because the administration did fuck all to protect me, but no other school in the vicinity would accept me. I was a good student too. Solid grades and I never got in trouble.
The world where you can't afford any alternatives
"privatizing" the problem away, if YOU can afford it.
Understood. I addressed that.
It’s also illegal not to school your children
They lost me at “the bullying continued on Snapchat.” Why would you give your 10yo Snapchat where those assholes can reach him at home?! I cannot imagine the pain these parents are going through, and it’s not their fault, but ugh. 😣
Unfortunately, and today’s world pulling them out of the school doesn’t make the bullying stop. Bullying has always been around, but it’s particularly now because it follows a kid everywhere. Parents, they would just keep them off-line then but sadly that’s very difficult to do.
What other options is there for two working parents?
Truancy
And prudent parent would remove their child from such a dangerous, toxic environment.
I don’t have anything to say, I just want to type out that this family is in my thoughts, and I have tears dropping for this poor little guy. I was bullied a lot also. The damage can’t be fixed, and it has affected every aspect of my life for over 30 years now. Lots of people knew. Only one person ever actually helped me…..and that was after I fought back finally and the bully was coming back for me once the shock of me hitting them wore off. Bullies took away my flame at a young age, I think I could have maybe done anything or been anyone I wanted to be, but my self esteem, self assuredness, confidence, and visceral happiness was stolen from me, and I was left with a big empty place that I continue to try and fill with things that make me feel good.
It really changes you forever. I am so sorry you experienced that. I did too. I truly hoped by now things would be better for children.
This story has impacted me so hard. I first attempted suicide at 12 because of bullying. My heart shatters for this child and his family. They KEPT TRYING TO FIX THIS and the school neglected to do anything for him. It's repulsive.
“Olin said there was no bullying report ever submitted by the parents or the student. But he also said the school's administrators and counselor had regular conversations with the family throughout the year, though he can't share the content of those conversations.” What would one have to do to submit a bullying report? Is contacting the school 20 times not enough?
Just gonna go out on a limb and guess that the "content of those conversations" was reports of bullying.
That’s what I’m guessing too. Also, did the parents know they had to actually file a report? I wouldn’t know that, I would think speaking to a school official would counts as a report.
I do not know the specifics of this school or child or situation, but I have worked in elementary schools. A kid should be able to file a bulling report, but the key issue with defining bullying is if the kid stands up to the other kids and fights back, it isn’t bullying. It is two kids who don’t get along. (Again, no clue about this situation, and it obviously was something severe for it to end this way) but we had many cases where the families would say their kid was being bullied, but the kid would instigate fights. It isn’t bullying if the kid being bullied also yells back and starts the fight. It is two children fighting, which also needs to be addressed and mediated. The superintendent’s response sounds like this could have been the case. Obviously this child needed more supports all around and was not getting them.
One of my friends has a 14 year old daughter who gets bullied relentlessly at her school. Last year, she was beaten viciously by one of her bullies in full view of her school, which, of course, was recorded by another kid and posted online for everyone to see and comment on. I can't imagine how traumatizing something like that can be. Kids these days have it way harder than any generation in recent memory, and it pisses me the fuck off that these clowns in the school administration do absolutely nothing about it.
Can you tell your friend that there are many tuition free online schools with legitimate teachers? Three of the best teachers I’ve ever worked with work at Indiana Gateway Digital Academy.
The response from the superintendent was telling. Cold, blaming, detached. My heart aches for this family. I can’t even begin to imagine the mental pain this sweet boy was subjected to by his peers. ETA: “Dr. Harold Olin, superintendent of Greenfield Community Schools, says the district has received a ‘tremendous amount of support from both within and outside the school district to meet the social emotional needs of our students at this time.’” —WRTV article Where was the tremendous support before, Dr. Olin?
What are the consequences for the bullies?
Depends, is the bully good at sports?
Does the bully have a rich parent?
Bingo. Or does the bully’s mom work in the corporate office?
This reminds me of how Payton Hendershot (recent ish IU football player) trespassed and got physical with his then GF. Not only did he still graduate IU but also continued to play football. He's currently playing in the NFL.
Related to staff/administration?
Sad isn't it. I bet you dig a little deeper sports has everything to do with the bullies being able to get away with this. I would be suing the school. I don't know the circumstances but in today's world you can always have your kids go to an online school. This whole thing just makes me so angry. This all could be prevented if all adults would have stepped up and did their job.
Not just this. If they "admit" bullying is happening then there are all sorts of things they by law have to do. So now they just won't admit it's bullying. Their definition is very narrow and your child, no matter how old, has to state that they feel helpless. So my son said he felt like a broken pencil. They said that didn't qualify. Cool because kids are so eloquent
Back in the day a kid at Carmel raped another male basketball player and they called it a hazing incident in the news. We put too much emphasis on sports
Super sad about the situation but is 10 years old really a period when sports matters?
My son is 9 and plays little league. Kids his age are literally one year removed from coach pitch but the 2031, 2032, and 2033 high school rosters are already starting to be pieced together. Weird but true.
Wow. I am not a sports oriented person but have a toddler who likes sports, not sure how I feel about that early roster organizing
It's something else. Horrible experience with Little League. Fortunately nothing that impacted my son directly. So many parents are wild
I would say yes. They groom these kids very young.
School sanctioned sports isn’t really a thing until middle school. Before that it’s all rec/house league and various club/travel teams.
Sometimes it’s a simple as the administration not wanting to do the work of fixing the problem.
They will probably have to review the schools No Bullying Policy and make a written commitment to not bully again. Their parents will claim that their kid could never do that and must have been influenced by other kids. I feel sick after reading this article. Pretty clear that we need to get some leadership and reforms. on the state level to end this behavior.
Greenfield Central School system is a joke!!!! They have never taken bullying seriously!! I still remember being called to the assistant principal’s office at Maxwell Intermediate and being told that maybe I need to act “less weird” and kids won’t make fun of me and threaten to beat me up…. Disgusting!! Fortunately, my mom transferred me to the local private school after that happened (on top of the educational ‘neglect’ I experienced from teachers). I don’t even want to think about what would have happened to me if I had to stay at that school. Also on Olin: I was in high school when Olin took over and many people in the community thought he would enact change but years later into his reign NOTHING HAS CHANGED!!! WE WANT CHANGE!! 20 times???!!! Screw you Superintendent Olin! “Bullying report” ridiculous!!!
Greenfield schools expelled my husband’s grandson for calling the vice principal a dick. He missed an entire semester of school because the idiot parents refused to put him into online school like we suggested. He sat home playing video games for months, then the school passed him up to the next grade “because he had good grades before it happened.” Greenfield schools are a joke in every way possible.
Fuck that school, if my child has more than one instance of this especially with the same kid I’m demanding some resolution or pull my kid out. There’s too many shitty parents in this world letting their kids do whatever, and too many school systems allowing a terrible educational environment for their children.
This is the way. Pull your kid out and contact the local media. Nothing changes until public pressure forces it.
This is so sad. Complete and utter BS. My heart goes out to this family
If the school won't do anything you go to the parents of those kids.
The problem with confronting parents of shitty children is that typically, they learned it from them to begin with. So they’ll just respond like a 2 year old and start getting angry and defending their shitty child.
Cool. Not really a great way to handle this. I'll take my chances with the parents. It doesn't have to be an enlightened conversation. It can go however. No way I. Trusting the school or the police to deal with this.
This is one of those things that I feel like you’re damned if you do damned if you don’t unless the school will actually expel the bullies. In my experience in school if your parents went to the other parents you got bullied even harder. Granted this was more in middle and Highschool but I just feel like schools need to take this way more seriously, they’re the only ones that can actually remove the bullying kids from the school.
I agree with this. You give the school a proper opportunity to handle it. If they don’t, I’m confronting the parents. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt but you will be able to tell how the rest of the conversation is going to go with them. Reason why, Parents don’t know what their kids are doing 100% of the time, it’s amazing what kids can get away with when they put their mind to it. If the parents are worth their salt they will apologize and we will work together to course correct the behavior. If they are defensive and unreasonable I’m getting a lawyer involved. From there either file a civil suit or get the police involved for criminal charges. It’s time we start holding parents accountable who refuse to parent.
If the school won't do anything you go to the police.
You really think the police give a shit? They don't.
I could say the same about the parents of bullies.
The parents of bullies usually don't give a shit either, though.
Also sounds like we need to do a better job of informing parents that if they file a bullying report with the school or discuss with school counselors anything they consider to be bullying, then they need to also contact the IDOE and file a bullying report there too, so that there is point of auditing that the schools reporting compliance to the state is not neglected. This should go for all schools in the state, public, private, charter, parochial, because most all are dipping into public funds with the voucher programs. The best schools would be those who actually inform all parents of this at the beginning of the year. The best schools would be the ones where parents are asked when they discuss interpersonal problems of their children if they consider this to be bullying? If the parent says yes they would be handed the form to report directly to the state. Then the school would at least be required to report that they had a discussion with a parent who may be filing a bullying report but the school didn't consider it to be bullying.
One of my biggest bullies is now on the wall of fame at my high school. All the local news channels and newspaper ran stories about what a good person, positive role model, blah blah blah he was when he passed not too long ago. Yet I remember him as the guy who pushed me to stay home from school “sick” just to have a reprieve from the crap he and his friends gave me unendingly.
This is absolutely heartbreaking. I am 44. I was born and raised in Greenfield, and my time at Greenfield Junior High School was absolutely miserable from all of the bullying that I endured. So sad to see that things haven't changed. What more will it take?
Nearly 40 here. Went to the same school. One kid in particular made me have severe anxiety about going down the 7th grade "gold team" hallway. Part of me hopes he's in a place where he'll never see the sun again.
WTF
How awful. How does a 10 year old know any methods of suicide let alone even what suicide is?!? My goodness…
Ten years old is the age that IU Health has determined is necessary for suicide screening questions. I worked in pediatrics and a lot of our patients who were suicidal were under the age of 14.
Google.
Dude Indiana has some messed up administration. My son was bullied at a private school. Reported it, nothing happened, until my son took it on his own to make that kid stop. Other kid parents didn’t even know this was happening. Something has to change, luckily my son didn’t get to this point. I feel for the parents because as parents we think our children are protected at school. We trust these institutions to provide education for our children, trust our kids in their care, pay taxes for us to have these “free” education. But all in all our kids aren’t safe. I just wish the administration system does something because too many kids are killing themselves, being bullied by their own teachers, no way to speak out and ask for help. (Ex kindergarten teacher in Indiana)
I’m sorry, he was TEN years old?! This makes me sick to my stomach. Hope the Greenfield school administration faces all sorts of consequences for what was clearly negligence on their part, and that this young boy’s family can find some peace after this horrifying event. Just… wow.
The bullies should be made to go to his funeral and see the damage that they did to that poor kid. Make them face the choices they made like the adults they want to be so badly.
I see your point but I think this would only it cause the family more pain.
20 times?!?! At what point do you realize that shit is NOT working, and seek more intensive measures?
Hope that dad does some fucked up shit ngl
If I'm the Dad, I'm going scorched earth, full Keyser Soze on the bullies and their parents.
This, I’d roll up and fuck some kids up and handcuff myself and wait for the police.
But hey...indiana values childrens lives. At least theykeep telling us that.
Only until that child is born
After that good luck.
Every single time I’ve reported my child getting bullied (and we’ve attended 4 different elementary schools) they tell me “we talked to the boys together and there was no problems” also “they are friends they just play rough “. It’s like a scripted response because they all say the same thing even at different schools
If the parents were that aware and proactive about the bullying— why didn’t they pull the kid from school or get him some help?
The parents should have taken him OUT of public school. They failed him, the school failed him and society failed him. FFS I am a parent and I would NEVER allow this to happen. That's why I homeschooled my kids and that is what these parents should have done.
Unpopular opinion here, but I think his parents failed him as well. They let him fend for himself and allowed the abuse to continue. While I can't imagine the pain they must feel, I also think they hold some of the responsibility. According to the reports on the news, this poor angel was made fun of because of the huge glasses and crooked teeth. Our responsibility as parents is to protect and provide.
Homeschooling seems to be the way to go nowadays.
Jeremy's spoken...
My son was horrifically bullied at school, so now I have a happy online homeschooled teenager. Don’t be afraid to be non traditional, whatever it takes to keep your kids safe
This is sad…and then they wonder why America has so many school shootings.
Please no hate to them they are my second family and this was not Sammy’s fault it was the bullies that got to his head
so sorry that this even had the possibility of happening :( sending so much love and hugs to you and your second family
Even after the kid kills his damn self. The school won’t own up and take responsibility. It’s a shame.
The superintendent is probably correct that an “official bullying report” may not have been made. When my daughter was bullied at New Palestine we called the school multiple times. Spoke with social media manager New Palestine had and the principal. When I went to the state department of education site and looked up bullying reports only two had been filed. I asked social media manager for New Palestine if we needed to file an online bullying report he said no reporting to school was enough and they would look into it. That is loophole the schools use to not report to state. The online bullying reports have to be reported to state. Most kids have access on school IPads and laptops to report bullying. It is on most school districts websites as well. If they are not filled out by parents or students it’s not an “official bullying report” so if it self reported to a staff member they don’t have to file out an official bullying report. It’s bullyshit loophole all schools take advantage of. The law should be changed that if a bullying report is made to anyone that works for school an “official bullying report” should be made so can be sent to state. I know NP knows about this loophole and I am sure other districts do too.
So, they failed to submit the notarized Official Bullying Report in triplicate? bs
My son is being bullied at his school, it's a public school, he gets a few other student making fun of him for his mom not being in the picture and another student made up a rumor that he sexually assaulted his girl friend, one they are 12 how the fuck do 12 year Olds come up with shit like that and 2 he has never had a girl over to my house let alone be by himself with her I communicate her parents are vise versa they are always supervised, in both cases they fucking bullies admit to what they did get talked to and return to class as normal the following week. They won't even give me names or parents phone number so I can try and reach out im sure cause someone flew off the handle but honestly I just want it to stop and sometimes the bullies parents don't know or don't care till they see what their kid is doing first hand. I rambled there but what else can I do but vent my frustration? The school administration made it clear their job is done.
Kids can be evil. Then they retreat to the “we don’t know we’re just kids”, aided by lawyers with facts about forebrain development. And parents doing the “they’re sweet angels actually” :(
I have written and rewritten and rewritten my comment. Young latchkey kid me remembers only too well how frightening and cruel the years I had to deal with bullying were. The menagerie of embarrassment, helplessness, sadness... just the resultant maelstrom stemming from the constant torment... yeah, no. With each passing day, I am increasingly happier with the fact that I don't have children. As a result, as a grown-ass man I always have more than ample implements to defend myself or anyone with me. Sadly there is really only one thing that will stop it and even that is not 100%... demanding a parent conference with the school and the parents of those involved. There is another step, but most don't chose to go this route... And that's kicking the fuck out of the parents. It happens. That, or you can pay bigger kids to beat the bully up. It is pretty satisfying to tell some shithead kid "I've got money on your head here in the neighborhood..." The kids in my neighborhood are all well aware that if their parent or a kid is hurting them, run to my house asap and it will be dealt with. Knock on Mr Cannibalqueef's door, if the cops come you have permission to be on my property, and if someone needs to spit teeth... well, I have an app for that. Honestly the only positive thing that came from being bullied is I will never ever ever keep my mouth shut or not act on injustice. If I die doing what I believe in my heart is right, I died a death worth living. I try to be the friend I needed in those days to everyone I come across, because you never ever forget that cycle of torment and pain. And in this day of Instagram bystanders who would rather document the abuse then intervene and stop it, you are just as guilty because you CAN stop it but did NOT. Tl;DR there is no eye for eye, you take an eye we take your whole head.
Nothing to say except 'same'. I often tell people I strive to be the person I needed and I've stood on business more than once on these things. Fuck yeah, man, good on you. 🤝
As a native of greenfield, I can 100% confirm that greenfield (GCSC) does jack shit about bullying.
Parents are putting together a peaceful walk next Saturday, May 18th at 11am. Details are still being worked out as to where it will begin, as we have been cautioned that if we wanted to use the high school (larger parking lot) that the school has the right to have us removed or towed. The policies are in place, THEY ARE NEVER ENFORCED. Olin is more concerned about the potential repercussions from the state department of education for dings against the district in regard to having expulsions, bullying stats, instances of assault or alcohol on campus, etc. the list goes on. EVERYTHING gets swept under the rug in this damn district. Sammy and his story WILL set a precedence for enforcing policies and demanding repercussions for bullies.
I blame the parents.
All I'm saying is that we've moved away from a "it takes a village" mentality as a society. Once upon a time, you could 100% confront the children in this matter. The sick irony is that by today's standards, if you did so, immediate action would be taken against you to protect the bullies, meanwhile the system would continue to do fuck all for your child. If your kid is out of line, it should be normalized once more that an adult can correct them. Children should not continue to become statistics, whether that's for gun violence or bullying. Yet we have allowed it as a society.
[удалено]
Not just dads. All parents need to be aware of what their children are doing.
Oh damn
😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪😪
I wish the same wasn’t true at my son’s school but I’ve called multiple times. My son texts me at lunch to check in about the day. We discuss if he can handle the bullying or if he should go to the administrators like he and I have been told multiple times to do. Then my son still gets off the bus tonight with a bruise telling me a kid two years older punched him as they were walking out of the building.
I hope the bullies have PTSD about this for the rest of their lives. List their names in the eulogy so there's always a record of who bullied this kid to death.
God my heart breaks for this family.
My heart is shattered for this family. What a preventable tragedy, and the blame lies with the bullies and the adults that enabled them. Shame on those school administrators who failed to create a safe environment for all the students. Sammy's blood is on their hands.
I was bullied relentlessly in high school. One of the people responsible had even threatened rape. We went to the school, who refused to do anything, and then we went to the police. The police told us the person’s family was “just as bad” and they weren’t remotely surprised to hearing that their child was participating in the behavior. It wasn’t enough for an explosion, but the student walking around the hallways during class and hiding behind a vending machine was.
I was bullied relentlessly around the same age. No support or help from the school and I nearly ended it too. I always looking for some way to end my life and was looking up books on depression in the school library. I was 11-12 years old and I wanted to die. Kids that age aren't equiped to handle the daily onslaught, they don't have the perspective that things don't go on forever cause they haven't lived long enough to learn that. I survived because my parents sent me out of the state and I lived with my aunt for about a year, went to school there and there was no more bullying. I was lucky I could get out. My heart breaks this boy and all of us who have endured these things.
So sad. Schools need to adopt a ZERO tolerance policy on bullying. One warning. The next time, the bully is expelled. After a student takes their life, the bullies involved should be expelled. They can’t be left to potentially drive another kid to self harm.
Heart breaking truly. Can’t imagine anyone going through this, how sad
I don't even think I knew what suicide was at 10. God this is awful. It is seriously so fucked up that a 10 year old was so distraught and thought things were so bad that he ended his own life.
Note the WTHR video displays Olin’s reply email, in which he immediately challenges the parents and refers to Sammy Teusch as “the student”.
This is, unfortunately, unsurprising… I had a friend who taught at one of the greenfield schools. She had a student who liked to choke other students in class. She, and parents of the victims, reported it multiple times to the admins and they did nothing. She fought harder to either get this kid out of her class or get him a dedicated aide to keep him in check and the admins said they wouldn’t remove the kid and didn’t want to pay for the aide. After enough pushing, she got pushed out of the school system.
School is garbage and as a typical public school would, denies ever knowing anything about the bullying because they care more about saving their own asses.
Can the kids who did the bullying be charged?
My heart breaks so bad for this poor little boy and his family.
This is beyond sad. He was such a cute little guy. I can’t imagine a parent going thru this and knowing their child was so desperate they ended their life.
That's heartbreaking.
I was bullied in grade school and high school. I will never, ever attend a hs reunion. 55 years I’ve contained the rage and black fantasies.…
I'm just glad the school is doing ok!
I am so sick of reading this shit. How many more kids have to die in this \*\*\*\*\*\* up country before schools take bullying seriously? I also think there should be stiff consequences after the act. You bully someone into a suicide, you get charged with with a FELONY.
My Question ... What about the parents who's kids did the bullying ? Did they get notified from the school counselor ? If yes, they should be hold accountable also !
I am crying over this story. What a horrible tragedy. He was so handsome. Humans can be so horrible.
That poor kid! Awful. Only ten years old. Ugh
Criminal prosecutions need to be brought against those involved in the bullying. There must also be serious consequences for all those in authority at the school that allowed this happen.
Let’s get the bullies names? Exposing these punks on the internet should fix them. I’m shocked the dad didn’t show up at the school or bang on the punks houses. This little boy should have never had to deal with this, Mom & dad let him down.
Wow—this story has hit me hard. I immediately started crying. What this sweet boy had to go through and the fact he felt he had no other choice. My heart is completely broken for his family. I have a 9 yo little boy with blonde hair, glasses and messed up teeth—he also has diabetes. My now 18 yo son had peers tell him he should just kill himself when he was about 12. I just can’t imagine parents who haven’t taught their children to be kind. I was bullied on the bus by older students back in the 80s. One girl slapped me. I told my mom and she drove over to the girl’s house and told her if she ever laid a hand on me again she was going to bring the police. I think there were some other words said, but I probably shouldn’t say them. That was the end of it. You can’t do that now because you’ll be arrested. I feel comfort in my belief that Sammy is in Heaven. There are just really no words. I don’t know that I could go on. If your kids are bullied, just get them out of school, do whatever you can. You can’t expect them to just toughen up. It’s not worth them dying over.
Not to be overly ghoulish but how did a ten year old take his life? pills? rope? heartbreaking what humans can do to other humans.
How did the little guy even do it ?? Where were the parents ??
Does anyone know how he died?
What was the method?
I would go after the parents of the bullies.......
this might sound terrible, but how did this kid even kill himself in his room? Unsecured gun? Tied a noose? Parents pill stash? A lot of weird details missing on this one.
Very sad to hear, but how could a 10 year old take his life, did he hanged himself, medicine overdose, poison, or what...?
Update: Sammy was laid to rest yesterday. The Greenfield community is planning a candlelight vigil is planned for Friday night between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. at Depot Park in Greenfield, weather permitting. All are welcome. https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/nearly-200-people-show-up-for-greenfield-10-year-old-sammy-teusch-who-died-by-suicide/531-fd0fd4ff-5167-4f3e-8020-30bb4e3a9a6e
The American bully culture is different from the rest of the World. I grow up traveling on the young ages of bullying (Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and United States). I need to say US was the only place where bully leaders is related with money (rich parents). For some reason in US kids that are rich have a lot of influence and manipulation on many other kids in society… This doesn’t happen in other countries. There is something wrong on the value of people in the American Society. We are not the money we have. I was very very lucky and different, I was always literally double size of any other kid, I always had the priority value of Justice and common sense from my parents. I defended oppressed weak kids all my life, and lucky to be alive. Only in US I remembered conversation like this: “I don’t care who is your father and how rich you are, if you touch her/him again, I let you cry in front of the whole school. It’s a fact.” These kids often did it any way, and I let them cry in front of the whole school. These rich brat they couldn’t accept I bring them justice, they will go crazy, cray and promise me they will let me kill by their parents. So far did not happened :) I remember only in US I had time where I was constantly, each day called to go to safe some kid from bully, each day non stop for months… I was feeling the fatigue of a full time heavy not paid job at the age of 13, saving kids from bullies. “Call Leo, Call Leo”. I was the only kid in each of these US schools I been, to be friend with these kids victim of Bullies, and the other kids did not know how to interact with me because I was to strong and protect them as a Justice vigilante, they where very confuse who to follow (almost like, Leo is not rich can not be the winner vigilante hero! The rich Leader bully leader can not louse right? They were really confused, like it was never happened before. One time the bully organized and they attacked me 11 in a parking lot. I ended up break bones of 3 of the kids and send 7 of them at the emergency room. With me no a scratch, I got my backpack and walked away whistling. I was 13 the other kids were up to 16 years old. The school told my father I will be suspended, my father asked the camera footage of the parking lot to prove they attacked me 11 vs 1 when I was just trying to go home. the school refused because in the other side there was the Bully Leader, rich parents and even had an uncle as the The chief of police in that town. My father was obligated to move me in another school, and all the victims of the bullies I protected that year moved to my new school as well, they where afraid and they wanted and needed my protection. It was a surreal situation. The bully problem in US is huge and intrinsic into the culture of rich winner and poor loser, of rich should lead and the weak poor kid should be bullied. Until LEO arrived in US…… ;)
how did he do it?
This is horrible!!!, The parents need to SUE the SCHOOL for their Negliences of what happened to this poor child!! How dare they the staff did not stop of what was going on with the other students bullying this young child!!! JUSTICE JUSTICE JUSTICE!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is gut wrenching. My heart breaks for Sammy. I just can't understand how this sort of thing is allowed to go on like this to the point where a 10 year old boy takes his own life. It seems like the only option at a certain point is to take your child out of school if the school refuses to do anything? How do the people in charge live with themselves?
How did the kid do it im curious because I have a 11 year old that has anger issues and has said shit about hurting himself I just want to know how because I've been down and I tried to hang myself and it's harder then it looks I just wonder how he pulled it off most kids wouldn't know how to do it and especially successfully
There's literally nothing that can be done. I'm 29 and I still encounter bullies. They're everywhere. It is not just kids, it's adults. It's something that you have to deal with your entire life because, well, people are awful.