10 year old autistics suicide - racist, ableist school

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A North Salt Lake family is calling for answers as they mourn the death of their 10-year-old daughter, who took her own life over the weekend after experiencing bullying at school.

The girl’s mother, Brittany Tichenor, said her daughter, Isabella Faith Tichenor, was frequently bullied and belittled at school, according to a statement released by the family.

“She was an easy target especially after a teacher joined in mocking this young lady. As any parent would, we reported this abuse to her teachers, the school administration, and the district administration. Nothing. Nothing was done to protect Izzy. Children did not have their behavior corrected so the torment of this child continued day after day,” according to the statement.

Tyler Ayres, an attorney for the family, said “Izzy,” as her family called her, “was bullied for being African American as well as autistic. Brittany reported the bullying multiple times and no action was taken.”

Ayres said the girl’s siblings, who also attend Foxboro Elementary School in North Salt Lake, “have been referred to with the N-word this year. The offending student was not disciplined in any way. We are investigating the school’s lack of response but cannot say more about it at this time.”

The school district is under federal scrutiny after a Department of Justice investigation revealed “serious and widespread racial harassment” in its school by students but also some staff.

Last month, the Department of Justice announced results of the two-year probe during which Black students told investigators that they were routinely called the N-word or other racial epithets by non-Black students, and they were told that their skin was dirty or looked like feces, according to a DOJ news release.

“Many Black students said the harassment was so pervasive and happened so often in front of adults that they concluded school employees condoned the behavior and believed reporting it further would be futile,” the DOJ said.

The DOJ investigation noted Davis District’s “ineffective response” to incidents of racial harassment “for years.”

Schools need to have strong anti-bullying policies as its almost impossible for teachers to monitor bullies 24-7 and often there's a lack of will to intervene.

I went to a private school in the late 1970s and early 1980s and the school adminstrators encouraged teachers to pressure students who were "not fitting in" to leave the school. Some teachers used alpha bullies as foot soldiers to deliberately bully children who were socially, sports or academically not performing. Normalisation of bullying behaviour start with parents and is normalised in schools.

Uggh, at the risk of sounding insensitive, I really don't like trying to pinpoint the cause of a suicide absent something really concrete, like a note specifying the reason, and I'd like to know a little more about the circumstance here before rushing to judgment.

Even two teachers of my MS decided to join in believing I was making it all up. )

Uggh, at the risk of sounding insensitive, I really don't like trying to pinpoint the cause of a suicide absent something really concrete, like a note specifying the reason, and I'd like to know a little more about the circumstance here before rushing to judgment.

Uggh, at the risk of sounding insensitive, I really don't like trying to pinpoint the cause of a suicide absent something really concrete, like a note specifying the reason, and I'd like to know a little more about the circumstance here before rushing to judgment.

Anyone who's ever been bullied or belittled while growing up can verify to you the causation of her suicide.