Schools and parents meet to talk suicide and bullying
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Updated: 10:46 PM Feb 15, 2012
Schools and parents meet to talk suicide and bullying
After a 12-year-old girl took her own life this past weekend the school district she attended held a meeting to talk with the community about suicide.
Posted: 5:30 PM Feb 15, 2012
Reporter: Chris Baylor, Kevin Hurd
Email Address: chris.baylor@weau.com; kevin.hurd@weau.com
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After a 12-year-old girl took her own life this past weekend the school district she attended held a meeting to talk with the community about suicide.

The district says the meeting was to talk about suicide and what signs to watch out for. Earlier this week Al Brown, the District Superintendent, said there weren't any signs Payton Ruth Ann Richardson was bullied in school. While the meeting was focused on teen suicide prevention, some parents we've talked to say bullying has always been a big problem in the district, and they wanted to make their voices heard.

About 50 people packed into the Chetek-Weyerhaeuser School Library for the meeting but several parents wanted to get answers about bullying something many of them fear will lead to more teen suicides.

“I don't think you can have a meeting like this and not have a little tension in the room. Obviously everyone cares deeply about their children and wants what's best for them and we want what's best for them too,” says Al Brown the District’s Superintendent.

Brown says he expected bullying to come up, but says they first needed to get information about suicide to the parents.

“As a community I think we're all struggling and asking questions and these kinds of meeting will help us move forward,” says Brown.

“We were here because of the suicide issue and I wanted to learn the signs,” says parent Gabriel Gomez.

Gomez is one of about a dozen parents that signed up to talk with Brown about bullying one on one. He says bullying is something his son has dealt with for years and says up until now he hasn't gotten many answers from the district.

“I am walking out of here satisfied because I think parents got their point across that something needs to be done about bullying. There needs to be a congregation of parents to put a stop to this and put a stop to it now,” says Gomez.

Brown told the group the district wanted to get the suicide information out fist to prevent any others from happening. He says his hope is to have another community meeting to address bullying down the road after talking with parents individually.

“It's not that we don't deal with it we want kids not to be bullied but on the other hand if we have to improve our policies we’ll improve them, were not against that,” says Brown.

The district says it's not sure exactly when a meeting on bullying will happen but it says it wants to get ideas and concerns from parents before, so possible solutions can be brought to the table.

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Story from before the meeting:

"The bullying started for my son in second grade," said Heather Gomez, a parent in the Chetek-Weyerhaeuser school district.

That was the beginning of what has become years of problems for Heather and Gabriel's son. Bullying that has follow him up through middle school.

"He was pushed into a bathroom stall and we had to take him to get stitches in his stomach," Gomez said.

He has been hit by frozen oranges, lunch taken away, all the while they say there is a pattern.

"We've called and dealt with the school on several occasions and they just pacify us and say they're gonna do something and never fully do," Gomez said.

Both say they are not alone and know other parents who feel this way.

"Instead of going outside he would stay inside with the teachers and the janitors," said Danyel Olson, another parent in the district.

She says her son was bullied in school and her eighth grade daughter, just last week, was confronted by a group of high schoolers. She says she has not had luck with principals.

"They can always come to myself," said Dr. Al Brown, Superintendent in the district. "If they feel they don't have results from the superintendent they can go to the board of education."

Although, the superintendent adds he is confident in the district's anti-bullying programs.

"We take bullying very seriously, we have programs in the elementary, middle and high school to deal with bullying," Brown said.

But the parents we talked to said they do not see the impact and hope the district hears their concerns.

They only have four years of high school, after that, they're on their own," Olson added. "They've got to have an education."