Teen bullied to suicide, seminar held
MSNBC – Sen. Sherrod Brown hosted a seminar at Mentor Memorial Junior High School Tuesday night aimed at helping schools address bullying.
The goal of the event was to teach administrators, staff, bus drivers and educators to recognize and report bullying and the harassment of students. The seminar focused on promoting healthy, safe and productive schools for students.
As many as 50 percent of students are bullied at some time during the school year and 10 percent of them are bullied on a regular basis.
If anyone knows the tragic consequences of bullying it’s the family of Eric Mohat, whose bully drove him to suicide two weeks before his 17th birthday.
“The bully said to Eric ‘Why don’t you go home and shoot yourself?” Jan Mohat said. “‘It’s not like anyone would care.’ And so Eric did.”
That was five years ago, but Mohat still vividly remembers hearing from other students that her son’s teacher knew about the bullying and did nothing but move the bully’s chair.
