Posted on 12/19/2017 10:06:00 AM PST by Morgana
FULL TITLE: Parents sue school district after their severely bullied 13-year-old daughter hanged herself and left behind note 'apologizing for being ugly'
The parents of a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide in November after being bullied for two years are suing her school district over a wrongful death claim.
Rosalie Avila, 13, hanged herself inside her family's Yucaipa, California home on November 28 and was later declared brain dead before being taken off life support December 4.
Her parents, Freddie and Charlene Avila, allege that their eighth-grade daughter was relentlessly bullied at Mesa View Middle School by fellow classmates who taunted her by saying 'she had ugly teeth, that she was ugly, a whore, a slut, and had sexually transmitted diseases,' according to a news release, KTLA reported.
The teen's classmates allegedly circulated a video showing what an ugly girl looked like and what a pretty girl looked like and used a picture of Rosalie to portray the ugly girl,' the release stated.
'In her suicide note, she apologized to her parents for being ugly.'
Weeks after her tragic death, the alleged bullies still targeted her on social media, according to her parents. One recent post read, 'Rosie is still annoying me from the grave.'
Her parents were also subjected to cruel bullying comments and messages.
One person sent them a message with a meme that said 'hey mom,' next to a picture of Rosalie's face.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
yeah, that’s the ticket
“Bullying” has changed an awful lot since I was in school. Back then, bullying meant being jumped by kids after school and beaten, sometimes to unconsciousness. There were no suits, no lawyers. And the bullied kids survived and most thrived later.
Bullying should not be tolerated AT ALL.
It should be rooted out and ruthlessly excised—especially when it's this severe—and parents should be held responsible.
There's nothing I hate more than the inhuman treatment which some kids are subjected to by others. Just tragic, and unacceptable...
I take it you’ve spent your life constantly on the run, trying to hide from any difficulty life may dish out. Ah,well, if it works for you,then more power to ya.
According to the PC Gods, only non-straight kids can be “bullied.”
“and parents should be held responsible.”
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Yup - and it’s their kids who should be yanked out of the school - not, as someone has suggested here, the victim of the bullying.
Yeah, that might work in a few cases, when it's one bully, but good luck against a mob.
This kid really should have been pulled out of that school and get a fresh start.
Damn shame.
Actually, the spanking should have been going on all along. Long before the brats got this bad.
And a year in a toxic school is an eternity when you are five years old.
Whatever makes you happy.
Right. And define “getting an education.” Some schools really dont do much to teach kids either facts, logic, or how to solve problems of all kinds. If your child is being taught by her peers that she is not worth anything, no other study is going to counteract a “lesson” that profound. That will destroy her chances anyway.
I want to cry for that poor girl. Why do schools allow this? All that money. They should go zero tolerance on bullying on and off campus, not zero tolerance on cigarettes, Midol, and pot.
And parents? Talk about bullying every year since preschool. My daughter (big and athletic) goes right up to her teachers and tells them when someone is acting like a bully in kindergarten, to her or smaller kids. Make sure your child knows that you are there to protect them from social abuse. Always. And that there are other schools, and homeschooling. There is no excuse for a parent leaving a child in a school that lets him get bullied.
“And I take it that you have spent you life telling about how tough you are.”
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Nope, but I have spent it learning a person cannot run away from his problems.
“This kid really should have been pulled out of that school and get a fresh start”
—
Why not kick out the bad students instead of the good ones?
How horrible.
I wonder - were these “videos” circulated via social media? If so, the lesson should be obvious: don’t allow your kids unfettered access to social media. Very little that is good will come from it.
There were always little jerks that want to inflate their egos by beating up smaller kids, fatter kids or kids with braces or their arms in a sling. When I told my dad about my problems (3rd grade) he said "I don't condone fighting but, you have to stand up for yourself". It worked even if I did crack the cast. It left an impression on my tormentor and I never had a problem again because of the reputation I earned that day. My classmates still talked about that day at my HS graduation.
Fast forward 30 years. While teaching I noticed that the definition of "bullying" had been broadly expanded to include teasing and virtually anything that would hurt one's self esteem including not being allowed to sit at the "cool kid" table at lunch. The difference from the 50's to the 90's and on was that now you aren't expected to stand up for yourself. You are required to be a victim for the system to address the issue. The institution will punish you and probably not your tormentor if you do fend for yourself.
Students who feel bullied now have to go to a staff member and rely on the school institution to address the problem.
In a perfect and just world, that's exactly what should happen, but in reality, educators will go for the easiest solution, which is do nothing.
Moving to a new school is just a “short term” fix.
Eventually, the bullied will be bullied again until they learn life skills.
And yes, not being bullied, is a life skill.
I got a problem with parents who allow a daughter to go through 'two years' of this bullying. The time to sue is when the school isn't addressing the issue......and further get the police involved directly with the parents of the bullying. ....there was nothing preventing the parents from pulling their child out of this school for her own safety. So why sue now? Obvious it is.
....”When your child is being bullied you need to take them out of that school”....
Parents do have options... and after two years of this, (which should have never gone on this long), it doesn’t look like these parents wanted to do what parents do when it doesn’t stop.
I think she was a cute little girl...I don’t get the “ugly”...
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