Addressing the rise in bullying at Indiana Schools

GREENFIELD, Ind. — Statistics show bullying in Indiana schools is on the rise, and according to local experts, it is happening more among younger kids.

Just this week, a 10-year-old in Greenfield ended his life after his parents said he was bullied at school.

“Nobody on this earth wants this to happen to their children,” said Sam Teusch, the father of Sammy Teusch, who ended his life on Sunday.

According to the Indiana Department of Education, the number of bullying incidents climbed by nearly 7% during the two most recent school years on record ( 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 ), and those are only the officially reported cases.

“In Indiana, we are seeing a huge escalation in bullying especially at the elementary and middle school levels,” said Catherine Michael, an attorney who specializes in education law. Michael is also a managing partner at Connell Michael LLP. “It’s going beyond someone simply calling a child a name to pushing them, hitting them, breaking their glasses, throwing books at them… And one of the big problems we are having is school staff truly cracking down and making sure it stops.”

State lawmakers passed an anti-bullying law in 2023 . It requires school administrators to notify parents within five businesses when their kid is being bullied and parents of the alleged bully.

The 10-year-old’s parents said they were not always notified when their son Sammy was bullied. FOX59/CBS4 asked the Greenfield-Central Community School Corporation if bullying reports were submitted and reviewed by staff in this case but due to privacy laws, they didn’t provide a full answer, saying it’s under investigation.

“Due to privacy laws and an ongoing investigation, we cannot fully answer this question,” said Dr. Harold Olin, superintendent of schools via email. “I can say that we investigate and respond to all bullying reports and that Greenfield-Central takes bullying seriously. Every claim is reviewed.”

Our FOX59/CBS4 team asked the author of the anti-bullying bill which became law in July if enough is being done. This is the full statement from State Representative Vernon Smith:

“As an educator and mentor in my district, I am heartbroken for this child and his family. The death of this young man is nothing less than a tragedy, and a preventable one at that. Had the appropriate measures been taken by his school, he may still be with us today.

During the 2023 legislative session, I authored House Enrolled Act 1483 to change reporting requirements for schools in cases of bullying, mandating that school administrators must notify parents of the children being bullied and the parents of the perpetrator within a certain timeframe. This law expressly requires that the safety of the bullied child must be prioritized, so if parental notification and mediation measures fail, the perpetrator is removed from the school. Clearly, the appropriate steps were not made in this case.

Bullying runs rampant in our schools, and the effects of that push our children into desperate situations. Had the school intervened, we may have seen a very different outcome in this case. Schools should be a safe place for our children to learn and grow, not be subjected to daily torture from their peers.

Bullying is a multifaceted issue; while the overall goal is to eliminate bullying from Indiana schools, we must also empower our children to have a strong sense of self. When children are minimized and made to feel powerless, they may take drastic action to escape the situation. It is our duty to provide these children with support and resources to help them. But ultimately, the onus is on schools to intervene and enforce disciplinary measures to prevent further escalation.

The question we must be asking ourselves is are schools following the law when addressing instances of bullying?  Our schools must be held accountable to ensure tragedies like this never happen again. Failing to follow procedure put children’s very lives at risk, and we cannot allow such oversights to happen in our schools.”

The Teusch family is now asking for more to be done to protect young kids in school.

“Man, they have to report this, and I know Holcomb signed something that reporting is law. They have to report when things like this are done (happen),” Sam Teusch said.

Many other Hoosiers are advocating for additional discipline measures within schools too.

“I think this case is a wake-up call that we need to be taking bullying seriously,” Michael said. “That means disciplining students who are engaged in bullying, taking steps at separating students, expelling students who are bullies, providing counseling, therapy services, psychology services, and if a child is really struggling, providing them alternative placement and that’s just what we are not seeing. We are not seeing schools aggressively deal with these situations which is why children continue to really struggle with it.”

Next weekend, the Greenfield community, where Sammy called home, will be hosting an Anti-Bullying Protest Walk. The walk will start at Greenfield-Central High School and end at the courthouse. This will be on Saturday, May 18 at 11:00 a.m.

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