‘Bullied’ boy, 10, kills self
Parents: School ignored it
A 10-year-old Indiana boy killed himself after being bullied relentlessly at school, according to his family — who claim to have raised the alarm with the school at least 20 times in the past year.
Sammy Teusch, a fourthgrader at Greenfield Intermediate School, was bullied right up until the night he died by suicide on May 5, according to his family.
“I held him in my arms,” his dad, Sam Teusch, told WTHR TV. “I did the thing no father should ever have to do, and any time I close my eyes, it’s all I can see.”
Sam and wife Nichole said they had complained to the school roughly 20 times about the bullying that started last year in elementary school.
“They were making fun of him for his glasses in the beginning, then on to make fun of his teeth. It went on for a long time,” his dad said. “He was beat up on the school bus, and the kids broke his glasses and everything,” he said.
“I called the school, and I’m like, ‘What are you doing about this? It keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse,’ ” the dad claimed.
School Superintendent Dr. Harold Olin denied that any bullying reports had ever been submitted by either the
parents or the boy.
However, he acknowledged that the school’s administrators and counselor had regular conversations with the family throughout the year, without elaborating because of confidentiality rules.
The schoolboy’s family insisted their fears had been made clear.
Zero tolerance?
Sammy’s grandmother, Cynthia Teusch, was furious at the district for claiming it has a zero-tolerance policy on bullying.
“That they can’t just say they have zero tolerance because that doesn’t mean there is zero tolerance about bullies,
their zero tolerance means that they don’t have responsibility for it,” she told WPTA TV.
“People trust their kids to the school, but now that trust is breaking down.”
Nichole believes her son took his life because the constant bullying — especially an unspecified incident in a bathroom last week — left him too afraid to go to school.
“He was my little boy. He was my baby. He was the youngest one,” she told WTHR.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL.