Bullying Blamed for Death of Texas Teen
The family of Teddy Molina, 16, said the school district didn’t take much action to reports of the bullying. Photo courtesy of the Molina familyAudio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Bullying is in the spotlight at a small school district in Corpus Christi after a 16-year-old boy took his own life earlier this month. Teddy Molina’s family says he was bullied relentlessly before he committed suicide on April 1.
Education reporter Elaine Marsilio for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times spoke with KUT’s Nathan Bernier about the issue.
Teddy had been bullied repeatedly by a particular group of boys. It was a span of several years starting in middle school. The community has really rallied around this, around his death. They’ve had multiple rallies and they’ve called for an end to bullying.
From talking with the family we know that they did report it. And the family feels that the school district didn’t take much action in that regard. I understand the school district is now saying, ‘We aren’t going to deny that there is a bullying problem.’ The superintendent has said it’s a concern.
We haven’t been able to get much reaction from the school board members. Some of them seem kind of closed off. We have called some and we have been hung up on, and we are just trying to do our jobs and get some answers as to things that have been going on.
School board members in Flour Bluff ISD are elected.
Teddy Molina’s family members have said ethnic slurs were used to bully the teen, who withdrew from school in March.
A special broadcast on bullying called “Bullied: Teen Stories from Generation PRX” airs on KUT at 3 p.m. on Friday.
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