Posted on 09/08/2022 4:32:55 PM PDT by Morgana
he young boy who took his own life as he started school in North Carolina on Tuesday has been identified, as his heartbroken mother revealed he had been bullied for years and urged her fellow parents to teach their children to be kind.
Austin Pendergrass, 13, took his own life in a bathroom at Wendell Middle School on Tuesday on his first day of eighth-grade.
He was found dead by two students, prompting school officials to send everyone home, claiming there was a 'medical crisis.'
Pendergrass' family has now confirmed he died of suicide after years of bullying.
'The signs were there, but the bullying it was so bad,' his grieving mother, Jessica Pendergrass told WNCN, revealing he had been bullied since he was in sixth-grade.
'It was so bad last year with kids just taunting him, hurting him,' family friend Jalia Harris said in a video taken at a vigil Wednesday night.
He was able to enjoy the summer, his mom told WRAL, but as soon as he went back to school on Tuesday, the bullying started again.
'It's sad for us,' Harris said in the video, 'but this should be an eye-opener for everyone.'
'Just teach your kids to be kind, because kids can be so cruel,' Jessica Pendergrass added.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Why would you send your kid back to a school where they were bullied?
Bullies nor any other troublemakers do not get expelled anymore. If your child is targeted, remove them from the school immediately. Your child is not special to the state school.
Good question. They do need to be taught to have a thick skin. I taught mine to care only what carefully chosen friends think of them, and then that with a grain of salt.
Guessing he planned this well before returning to school.
Teach your kids to be kind and strong.
I agree. The mom said this was going on since the 6th grade. Mom should have pulled him out then as we know the schools just don’t care. It’s not worth it for the kids who are being bullied. Let the bullies stay in the public sewer that is public school and kids like Austin can get a better education at home.
Very bad advice. Being kind to cruel kids doesn’t work. A good ass kicking works. Teach your kids to be strong. Teach your kids to be somewhat disagreeable. The kindness part will take care of itself.
A n equally good question is what is wrong with the schools. A parent of a bullied kid should a registered letter describing the situation to the principal. Then if the bullying continued, sue everyone involved.
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Should have given the kid an Ar 15 to take on his first day back
They were no different 50 years ago.
I put up with a lot of crap from bullies.
Why that mother even thought of sending her son to school knowing what he would be facing, is beyond me.
I would enroll my kid in a practical fighting course and motivate him to master it.
Then he would dominate the bully(s).
If a bully was doing that to my kid, they wouldn’t do it again. I raised my kids to be friends with loners and the bullied.
It’s not the kids nor bullies. Always had both.
What they don’t have is adults enforcing the rules strictly and not in a punish both kids when they get in a fight.
Teachers know who the bad eggs are but won’t disciple them h cause it’s “racist”
The boy’s mom says it’s sad for her. Really? That’s it? Sad? How about outraged? If this happened to my kid, I would become a holy terror to everyone at that school demanding answers and accountability.
There are a lot of mean kids there days, as has always been the case. There may have been something about this sad young fellow that invited bullying. I do not excuse it. The article is rather vague.
My Unrequested Speculations:
I’m trying to guess what he was being harrassed about. He was 13 y/o, yes? He has the physique and appearance of an 8 year old boy. He is wearing the clothes a young child would wear. Perhaps he was not well socialized.
Some Home Schooling parents don’t take advantage of the groups and activites available for kids to mix with their peers. Was this a single parent family? We don’t know.
My guess is this kid had never been in anything resembling a fight or an argument where he was expected to respond vs run away from.
I have heard of some folks say they were bullied as children, and they responded with humor every so often.
That would take the ‘permanent sting’ out of shouted insults. Perhaps this poor guy never learned to not take the teasing so deeply.
> k. A good ass kicking works. <
That works in the movies, but only infrequently in today’s public schools. Bullies usually run in gangs now, and one lone bullied kid just isn’t going to prevail in the long run.
Lawsuits against the district might work. Maybe even get the police involved. But I suppose the best option is homeschooling. And that’s a shame, given how the parents are paying school taxes and their kid can’t even safely go to school.
Something must be wrong with me.
I fought everybody and probably lost more fights than I won.
But I’m sure bullies didn’t want to screw with me at all after their first attack.
What’s wrong with schools that allow it for years?
I had some problems with bullying in grade school. The school handled it quickly.
Now the schools protect the bully and suspend the kid that finely kicks the bully’s ass.
(My 6 foot 2 15 year old gental giant had finely had enough and laid the bully out)
I made sure he had the time of his life during his suspension
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