By Sammy Teusch, a 10-year-old fourth-grader at Greenfield Intermediate School in Indiana, took his own life on May 5 after enduring persistent bullying at school, according to his family. The boy’s parents, Sam and Nichole Teusch, claim they had raised concerns about the bullying to the school administration approximately 20 times over the past year.
The family reports that the bullying continued until the night of Sammy’s death. Sam Teusch, the boy’s father, recounted the heartbreaking moment, saying, “I held him in my arms. I did the thing no father should ever have to do, and any time I close my eyes, it’s all I can see.”
The parents allege that the bullying began last year when Sammy was in elementary school. “He was beat up on the school bus, and the kids broke his glasses and everything,” Sam Teusch said. He claims to have repeatedly contacted the school, saying, “I called the school, and I’m like, ‘What are you doing about this? It keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse.'”
However, the school district’s superintendent, Dr. Harold Olin, denies receiving any formal bullying reports from either the parents or the boy. While acknowledging that the school’s administrators and counselor had regular conversations with the family throughout the year, he declined to provide further details due to confidentiality rules.
Despite the superintendent’s statement, the Teusch family insists that their concerns were clearly communicated to the school. “They knew this was going on. They knew this was going on,” the father emphasized.
Sammy’s grandmother, Cynthia Teusch, expressed outrage at the district’s claim of having 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. “People trust their kids to the school, but now that trust is breaking down.”
Nichole Teusch, Sammy’s mother, believes that the relentless bullying, particularly an undisclosed incident in a school bathroom last week, left her son too afraid to attend school, ultimately leading to his tragic decision to take his own life. “He was my little boy. He was my baby. He was the youngest one,” she tearfully told WTHR.
The devastating loss of Sammy Teusch has sparked a larger conversation about the effectiveness of anti-bullying policies in schools and the responsibility of educational institutions to protect students from harassment and abuse. The family’s allegations raise questions about the school’s response to reported bullying incidents and the measures in place to prevent such tragedies from occurring.
As the community mourns the loss of a young life, the Teusch family’s story serves as a poignant reminder of the profound impact that bullying can have on children and the urgent need for schools to take a proactive and comprehensive approach to addressing this pervasive issue.
Credit: NewYorkPost.com
