Teen Commits Suicide After Constant Bullying

Teen Commits Suicide After Constant Bullying

Friends Of Scott Walz Create Facebook Page In His Honor

JOHNSBURG, Ill. (CBS) ―

Scott Walz, 18, committed suicide after he was constantly bullied at Johnsburg High School in McHenry County. CBS

http://cbs2chicago.com/ContentModules/Story/#






A local family should be celebrating a son's graduation, instead they are mourning his death. Scott Walz took his own life after enduring what his family describes as years of bullying. They say the school did not do enough to stop it. Now, as CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini reports, his friends are taking action to prevent future tragedies.

Scott Walz was a senior at Johnsburg High School in McHenry County when he committed suicide on March 4, 2010.

His family and friends say the school did not do enough to stop the bullies who had tormented him throughout high school, and even in middle school.

Scott had a black belt in Karate, but his mom, Nancy Walz, says he did not fight back.


Full article at link:

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/bullying.scott.walz.2.1731726.html

So sad, another teen gone. Sadly, in this article the school principle says he was unaware of the bullying despite this young man having endured bullying since grade school.

When is this going to stop? Kids are so rotten to each other and they don't care about the implications.

RIP Scott.

OMG - will these pointless tragedies cuz of bullying ever stop??!!

RIP, Scott. Sadly, you are another life gone too soon

Sadly, I don't think the bullying trend is all that new...there are just new ways to do it, around the clock...I recently looked at the memorial wall from my high school and was very surprised at the number of suicides over the years, of students, many during their time in high school. Suicides were very hushed up when lots of us were growing up and the kids who were outcasts suffered in silence.

I do, however, think kids are much, much crueler these days and do not know what this is to be attributed to. It seems like there is more of a gang mentality in teenagers these days and kids who would never be cruel on their own do so without qualms within a group of their peers or friends. I do not know what can be done to reduce the effects of bullying but I do not think the fault lies simply with the schools. JMO

Poor kid.. he was done with school and could've put all those bullies behind him.

This seems a most perplexing case to me as well. This young man endured constant bullying since middle school and he takes his life just a couple of months before final liberation from school? He was a target of constant bullying despite having a black belt in karate?

I don’t know if there is more to this story than meets the eye. Nevertheless, he’s gone and it is a tragedy. So often kids feel trapped in school in a toxic environment. If bullying was indeed the sole or chief reason for his suicide, I just wish he could have held out just a little bit longer.

If you know your kid is being tormented at school, do whatever you have to do to end the situation, with home schooling being a final option if all else fails. In Dr. Haber's book that I recommended on another thread, he has a series of steps to pursue starting with the least intrusive solutions and ending with the last resort ones.

It would appear that in this case other kids managed to instill within Scott a sense of low self-esteem, which is probably the actual reason for the young man’s desperate action at that stage rather than bullying per se. As I state on my anti-bullying website, children must be made to understand from a young age that basing one’s sense of self-esteem and worth on what others think of them is the height of folly; pegging such to that which one cannot control. I simply argue for the right of youngsters to be left alone if they are acting accordingly so that they may have the benefit of the education their parents are paying for through tuition or taxes.

Rest in peace, young man. You will be greatly missed by many.

When I was a little girl, I was already bullied at home by 3 elder sisters so when it started at school I was prepared to do battle. However, it didn't solve the problem because my Mother was always being called to school for some infraction on my behalf.....(when she was way more part of the problem at home)

When my kids began to experience bulling, I was simply infuriated ! At first I told them to punch their lights out but that wasn't allowed so we were simply left to our frustrations because in those days the solution was; "let the kids work it out between themselves....or....kids will be kids and this will pass".

Well, we know that "kids won't work this out"...at least not satisfactory. Someone these days will either commit suicide or murder.

I'm not one of those that think the schools can, not only educate our children, but solve all the social issues that are brought there. However, times have changed.

Children who are aggressive and undisciplined bring those problems to school and usually administer the punishment on their schoolmates. These kids should be identified early and removed to alternative schools, IMO, and not allowed to return until they've had some anger management training and show signs of being more social and able to thrive in a normal environment. If they don't do this.....or removal from school doesn't work....they should be incarcerated until they're no longer a threat because they are already budding criminals.

Armchair14 said:

This seems a most perplexing case to me as well. This young man endured constant bullying since middle school and he takes his life just a couple of months before final liberation from school? He was a target of constant bullying despite having a black belt in karate?

I don’t know if there is more to this story than meets the eye.

Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing. This is not out of disrespect, but some of the pieces don't fit here.

rip scott

Armchair14 said:

This seems a most perplexing case to me as well. This young man endured constant bullying since middle school and he takes his life just a couple of months before final liberation from school? He was a target of constant bullying despite having a black belt in karate?

Click to expand...

This is not so perplexing to me. A) Zero tolerance means even if you are defending yourself, you get suspension. My nephew was shoved and beaten by another boy, he grabbed the kid and shoved him into a locker. Both got suspension, even though my nephew did not start the problem. A "good" kid will not retaliate. (I have taught mine that I don't care if you get suspended-do not put up with abuse, period) B) Impending graduation to a student who has been constantly bullied is the realization that he/she is heading out into the real world, where they figure it's going to be worse than school (which isn't true, but you don't know that yet). If you are already in a no win situation, some kids figure they have no where to go but down, and why live with it?

MOO