Joshua 8th-grader commits suicide over bullying, family says

The family of a 13-year-old middle school student in Joshua says the eighth-grader committed suicide this past weekend because he was bullied at school, television station KDFW/Channel 4 reported.

Jon Carmichael hanged himself in a barn near his home, the station reported.

The family told the station that school officials knew what was happening and his mother said she believes that the bullying was too much for her son to bear.

Joshua school superintendent Ray Dane said the bullying may have happened during an athletic period and that district administrators plan to determine who may have known about it. He said the district would address the issues related to the incident, Channel 4 reported.

School bullying has drawn national attention with the recent case in Massachusetts in which nine people have been charged after a 15-year-old girl committed suicide following prolonged harassment and bullying at school.

-- Lance Murray

Comments

[tomssister]

When are schools going to pay attention and take these bullying sessions seriously. I just don't understand why people don't make an effort to stop this. Kids are killing themsevles, are those bullies happy at the end result? What about the parents of these bullies? How do they feel about the final outcome? Who is in charge of these kids and what changes are the schools going to make to ensure that the children who attend there are safe? Tell me please.

[Katie Smith]

Kids used to play outside after school and they would learn to solve conflicts. Now that they are watching TV or playing video games they are unaware of how to deal with these emotions. Communication is a learned skill!
I do however feel terrible for this family and send my prayers their way.

[SS]

This is a very sad time. Please pray for the friends and family of Jon. Also, please pray for his classmates during this extremely difficult time. Rest in peace. You are sadly missed!

[Howdy Doody]

A good start would be for parents to ban thier kids from social networking sites. There is too much information, and teens do not need to be in constant touch. This will not eliminate bullying, as it always has been around. But it will control the rapid spread of this horrible plight.

[Bennie Kay Murphy]

This year, my grandson has had several cases of bullying. He now hates school and does not want to attend. Some of the problems have been addressed by the athletic coach for which I am thankful...but here is an example that was not addressed correctly. My grandson was changing classes, a bully and his friend walked up and hit him in the hall knocking his books all over the place. When my grandson said something to him the guy hit him again, then that was the topping on the cake. Against all we have told him my grandson takes the "bull by the horns" so to speak and slams the kid up against the wall. A quick to judge teacher starts hollaring and sends my grandson to a punishment class for slamming the kid against the wall. When my grandson was trying to explain to her what was going on, he was told to "SHUT UP" and go to the punichment class room. I was upset and still upset that this teacher would handle a case like this, knowing that my grandson was having problems with bullying in this manner. I for one do not think that the teachers want to handle the problems. God Bless the athletic coach for taking the time to hear out the problem and to take action. Shame on the woman that screamed at my grandson to shut up. It took several days to get him to settle down and alot of talking to get the goal back in his head that school is important and he needs to go. WHAT and WHERE are the teachers and if things are so bad at Hall Middle School in Weatherford, then we need the district to hire monitors for every hall, classroom . rest room and lunch room in that school. My grandson is totally deflated and I worry about what he might do. If you know how he can be helped, please advise.
Concerned Grandmother.