Cape Coral, FL: Mother Pushes To End Bullying In Fla. Schools

Girl, 11, Committed Suicide Because Of Bullying, Police Say

POSTED: 8:25 pm EDT May 22, 2010

UPDATED: 8:40 pm EDT May 22, 2010

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Police said an 11-year-old Treasure Coast girl who was bullied at school took her own life this week.

On Saturday, the push was on to bring an end to the growing dilemma of bullying in South Florida schools.

Port St. Lucie police said the parents of the 11-year-old girl found her hanging in her home Thursday night. The girl left behind a diary, in which she wrote about being bullied at school.

"In that diary, they have what constitutes a dying declaration, and I would go out after those kids and their parents and make an example of them," Debbie Johnston said.

Johnston said she knows all too well what it's like to have a child commit suicide after being taunted at school.

"His brother and I found him in his room," Johnston said of her son, Jeff. "He had hung himself in his closet."

Five years ago, her son killed himself in their Cape Coral home after he was bullied and harassed by a classmate for more than two years.

"Starting rumors, started making fun of the way he dressed, the way he talked, calling him names, like 'crypt keeper,'" Johnston said.

The teasing quickly turned to cyber bullying, and at only 15, Jeff took his own life. That's when his mother turned to state legislators and fought to get an anti-bullying law for the state.

"If they would give teachers the tools to stop this, we wouldn't continue to see kids die," she said.

The bill was passed two years ago and was named after Jeff. It prohibits harassment of public school students or employees during school hours, at school-sponsored events, or over school computer systems.

The law requires schools to report bullying to the police and to the parents of the bully and the victim.

Johnston said she is still fighting to get more funding for schools so that teachers and employees can be better trained to handle bullying.

Meanwhile, Port St. Lucie police are still investigating the girl's suicide.