By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Carl Joseph Walker-Hoove, a boy in 6th grade at New Leadership Charter School in Springfield, Mass., killed himself at his home on Northampton Avenue, Monday.
His mother found him hanging by an extension cord upstairs in their home Monday night. Apparently, he had pushed himself through another day of bullying at his school.
"I just want to help some other child. I know there are other kids being picked on, and it's day in and day out," said his mother, 43. She phoned the school multiple times since Carl started there in September, but that had no effect on the bullying. Students targeted him on a daily basis. They called him gay, made fun of his clothes, and even threatened him.
On Monday, Carl's mother said he informed her about how he accidentally hit a school TV with his backpack, then the TV bumped a girl. The girl then proceeded to shout at, and threaten him with harm. Carl phoned home after school to say he had received five days of suspension. The school officials deny the incident prompted a five-day suspension. His mother, nonetheless, continued to be upset with the school's pattern unresponsiveness.
School officials communicated to her their decision was that the mediation of the dispute between Carl and the female student was going to be the two students eating lunch together all week.
An article about this tragedy from MassLive.com noted that "according to the National Youth Violence Prevention Center, nearly one in three youth nationwide reported either being bullied, having bullied someone, or have done both."
