Teen who killed himself at school had learning disability
October 22nd, 2008Students say he was bullied
From the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News:
A 14-year-old student with a learning disability shot himself to death in a restroom in his rural high school north of Los Angeles Monday. Some parents and students said freshman Jeremiah Lasater was being bullied at Vasquez High School in Acton, and that school administrators were aware of the abuse but did not stop it.
Michael Daly, one of Lasater’s former special education teachers, said the teen had endured bullying and teasing for years. School officials said they did not know about any bullying directed at Lasater. Principal Rosemary Oppenheim said, “I’m on the yard at snack and lunch, and I don’t see any of it. I can’t fix what I’m not aware of.”
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 6:51 pm and is filed under learning disabilities.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Email This Post
Our RSS Feed
October 24th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
As the mother of a deeply dyslexic 16-year-old gentle giant, this story absolutely broke my heart. My son was also the victim of bullies on and off for several years.
Some kids with learning disabilities will go to great lengths not to call attention to themselves. They will suffer an unbelievable amount of abuse in silence. And this abuse is not always just meted out by other children, some bullies have grown up to become school teachers and school administrators.
My son never complained about bullies. When questioned he insisted everything was fine. I could clearly see that everything was not always fine.
So I stopped asking my son.
It is really not all that difficult to get to the truth of the matter when bullying by other children or even by other adults is occurring. Do not ask your child what is going on … ask their peers. Ask other children in your child`s classroom, on their bus or on the playground what is going on and then discuss your findings with other parents. Act forcefully on the information.
While my son would not talk about any bullying that was done to him he would talk about other children being bullied and I would pass along the information to the parents concerned. By talking to several children and comparing notes with other parents I was able to get an accurate report on the issues that needed attention.
Although I am greatly saddened by Jeremiah’s story it does not surprise me in the least. Perhaps those officials should have read through some anti-bullying material themselves, when you are aware of bully behavior and do nothing to stop it, you are a party to it. While the officials could never have entirely put a stop to ugly snide comments made by bullies they most certainly should have put a stop to food being thrown in Jermeiah’s face and other such blatant cruelty.
By refusing to defend that young man they have implied that he deserved to be bullied. Those “professionals” who were entrusted with Jeremiah`s care should be held accountable.