New Evidence Alleges Bullying Pushed Child To Hang Self At School

February 23, 2012 10:31 PM

Filed under

Education, Local, News, Syndicated Local, Syndication, Watch + Listen

THE COLONY (CBSDFW.COM) – Montana Lance was only 9-years-old when he took his life in January, 2010 at Stewart’s Creek Elementary School in The Colony. The 4th grader locked the door to the nurse’s bathroom and then hanged himself with a belt.

His parents say relentless bullying pushed their son to the edge. Potential evidence has recently come to light that may support their claim.

CBS 11 obtained video and written transcripts from former students at Stewart’s Creek Elementary, claiming that Montana Lance was bullied repeatedly while at school.

Read The Transcripts Below:

The video and supporting documents come from interviews conducted by the attorneys representing the Lance family. The written transcripts were taken by a certified court reporter.

In a video recorded interview, one student says that soon after Montana died, a counselor at the school spoke to the entire 4th grade. “Did Mr. Glass tell you why Montana died,” asked attorney, Ryan Johnson. “Umm, he said that he died because of bullying,” replied a former classmate of Montana.

New Evidence Alleges Bullying Pushed Child To Hang Self At School

Montana Lance

The classmate goes on to say that he too was bullied at Stewart’s Creek Elementary and that nothing was done to stop it. “I would be name called, picked on and physical,” explained the student. “I would tell my teachers, and if it would get too out of hand, I would tell the principal,” he added.

During another video interview, that same student’s mother described some of the abuse her son encountered. “He got hit pretty strongly by a child punching him on the back of his head,” she explained. “He got cuts and scrapes on his knees and elbows from falling off his bike from a child sticking things into his bike trying to hit him,” the mother added.

In a written transcript, another classmate says he was also bullied, “frequently.” When asked if he told his teachers, he replied, “Yes, but nothing was done about it.” That same classmate also stated he saw Montana bullied “all the time” and that “it got worse as time went by.”

A former female student at Stewart’s Creek says when she told a teacher that she was being bullied, the teacher allegedly responded, “Oh, you’ll get over it.” The female student says she replied by saying, “They do this to me every day. How can I get over it?” She went on to say that the abuse made her think, “this world was better off without me.”

Stewart’s Elementary is part of the Lewisville Independent School District. The district has maintained that there is no link between Montana’s death and bullying. In fact, in a recent deposition, the school’s assistant principal, Amy Teddy, said Montana was “not bullied.”

District spokeswoman, Karen Permetti, issued the following statement. “During this time, the Lewisville Independent School District’s thoughts are with the Lance family as they have suffered a tremendous loss. Due to pending litigation, the district is unable to comment on any questions related to this case.”

Also Check Out:

http://dallasforme.com/2012/02/new-evidence-alleges-bullying-pushed-child-to-hang-self-at-school/ » New Evidence Alleges Bullying Pushed Child To Hang Self At School Me and the Chicks

[...] More from: http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/0… Filed under Uncategorized | Leave a comment [...]
http://fortworthinsight.com/news/new-evidence-alleges-bullying-pushed-child-to-hang-self-at-school/ New Evidence Alleges Bullying Pushed Child To Hang Self At School « Fort Worth News Feeds

[...] Go to News Source [...]
Jason

That’s why you have to teach your kids how to whip some m**herf**king @$$!!!!!!!
NiteNurse

While I don’t condone bullying I am suspicious of the motives behind the parents wanting all this investigation into the bullying. Are they building a case againist the school so that they can later sue? My thoughts are what did the parents do to help their child deal with this bullying? The poor kid was obviously very depressed. Did they not seek professional help for him? A child who comes home with frequent injuries is obviously being abused by someone. It’s a parent’s responsibility to check into it.

timeless

I for one a parent of a lewisville school student that was bullied tried I was threatened and they carried out one of their threats for the rest of my child school years and messed up her up forever. I was a yound single parent and no lawyers would handle things like that back then. The schools had control of everything, so dont go blaming the parents, the school system label you and your child as troublemakers and they proceed to wreck lifes. They the school systems bullies children and parents worse than the childern do.

Bullyed out of district

Unless you have been through this it is hard to understand, I pulled my kids out of Cedar Hill ISD for death threats with weapons in the 5th grade. The response when the kid returned after only a 3 day suspension was that he had a right to an education, while my kid was throwing up every night scared to death… 5th grade, People there is a problem in our schools and no one is addressing it.

NiteNurse

You did exactly what this kid’s parents should have done.

FedUpTxn

Don’t get involved, it’s not my job, are the motos of today’s society. Sit in a court and listen to school district attorneys that your tax dollars pay hundreds an hour for, instruct teachers to lie or keep silent. It will make you want to vomit. Laws that require teachers and doctors to report domestic violence and child abuse are rarely if ever enfoced, and they know it. Not worth their bother to miss their pay to protect someone else. More often than not, the person who does try to protect the victim, then becomes victimized themself by “the system”. But as NiteNurse said, some of the responsibility lies with the parents who had to know this was going on and did not contact the school, the other parents, or take their son out of this school. Let’s all go back to the day when “honesty is the best policy”, “a man’s word is his honor”, and going “above and beyond the call of duty”.
http://travel2dallas.us/the-latest-dallas-news-headlines-forfeb-24-2012/ The Latest Dallas News headlines for Feb 24 2012 : Travel tips, hotels, restaurants, jobs and news | Travel 2 Dallas

[...] in North Fort Worth Thursday. It was more discouraging to know she had five more than needed gas.New Evidence Alleges Bullying Pushed Child To Hang Self At SchoolCBS 11 obtained video and written transcripts from five former students at Stewart’s Creek [...]
http://davidwees.com/discuss dwees

We will never completely address bullying in our schools while we accept it in our society. If we really wanted bullying to end in schools, we’d find a way to end the bullying that happens all over our society. Since we seem unwilling to stop this bullying, we will make little headway into preventing it in our schools.

Should the teachers do their best to stop bullying? Obviously, yes. Will they succeed? Never in a hundred years with our current society.
http://fortworthinsight.com/news/classmates-parents-say-l-i-s-d-school-failed-to-stop-bullying/ Classmates, Parents Say L.I.S.D. School Failed To Stop Bullying « Fort Worth News Feeds

[...] classmate is one of at least three former students at Stewart’s Creek Elementary that say Montana was bullied repeatedly and that nothing was [...]
http://darlingbabyjake08.wordpress.com juliannasmith08

Bullying is a huge problem which is becoming pervasive and difficult to handle where innocent lives became unsafe. I would like to share the safety service that I am currently using with my child. I signed up in http://safekidzone.com/ and after I downloaded the application I find the service interesting. The application called panic button which is very easy to download.
Matthew

People still don’t understand how bad it was at that school. Not only did the staff not protect students from bullying, they participated in it. The victims had no place to turn. The administration knew, the ISD knew, and they must be held accountable.

My kids went to that school. We tried to work through the system but there was no help. We had to pull our kids out and send them to a different school. (My kids also started to show self-destructive behaviors. This was two years before Montana died.) Even though the new school was only a couple of miles away, the difference was night-and-day. It took us off guard when we were suddenly dealing with a staff that actually cared about the students.

What happened to Montana should NEVER happen to any student.
steph

I find this so sad that a child thought the world would be better off without him, these kids who bully usually are from familys that are just as bad. No parent wants to admit thier kids are bullys, but we as parents need to stay involved, parents need to talk to other parents and keep things safe for kids. I blame the schools for this, but also blame the local, state and national governments because what once was a safe place for kids to go, is becoming thier worst nightmare. Parents I urge you to talk to your kids, no matter their age, they need to know there is nothing wrong in talking about how they are treated. If you suspect your child is being bullied, i would contact the local authorities, as if this can let someone from the outside see in, and avoid any problems like this. My prayers go to Montanas family, I pray the school, kids and parents of these bullys pay for what they did.