New Jersey parents say daughter, 12, committed suicide because of bullying
ROCKAWAY TOWNSHIP, New Jersey (WABC) -- The New Jersey parents of a 12-year-old girl who committed suicide are suing the school district for not doing enough to protect their daughter.
The family of Mallory Grossman say months of unrelenting bullying led the young girl to take her own life last year.
Her parents filed the wrongful death lawsuit against the Rockaway Township Board of Education and its staff on Tuesday, saying they should have done more to protect the 6th-grader.
Grossman attended Copeland Middle School and her parents say she was full of strength, promise, life and spirit. They said she was also very sensitive.
The lawsuit says Grossman was taunted relentlessly and repeatedly in the weeks leading up to her suicide on June 14, 2017.
Grossman was allegedly asked by her bullies when she was going to kill herself. Her parents say they have evidence of how she was relentlessly bullied by four classmates for months even though they continued to ask the school to discipline those responsible.
Grossman's mother says the bullies still haven't been punished.
"We know that the poor behavior and poor decisions these kids make has not changed," Dianne Grossman said. "They do not believe ultimately that they are responsible for it."
Mallory's parents are suing to change the way all schools confront bullies in class and on social media. They also want schools to empower good kids to stand up for what is right and to draw attention to awful behavior.
Grossman's parents are demanding change and say they want schools to wake up.
"I really want schools to understand the gravity of what has happened, Mallory is not a 2-minute news story, she is our daughter and she's forever gone," Dianne Grossman said. "Our family is forever changed because they chose not to put systems in place, they chose not to protect her, so I want other school systems to learn from this and to start making immediate changes within their buildings."
The Grossmans started a blog and foundation called Mallory's Army to help educate other parents, let other good kids know they are not alone and to jump start the change they want the lawsuit to bring.
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