Student Suspended After Rodemeyer Parents Share Story

A student has been punished for chanting during a school dance that 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer is "better off dead" after committing suicide in September in the face of unrelenting bullying.

There in the auditorium to hear the taunts was Rodemeyer's sister. Parents Tracy and Tim Rodemeyer shared the shocking story during a Today show interview last week after their daughter came home very upset.

Superintendent Scott Martzloff of the Williamsville, N.Y., Central School District reported that the student responsible for the chanting faced suspension "to the fullest extent allowed under education law."

"We will not let the actions of any student threaten the emotional well-being of others," he said in this video message posted on the school district's website.

Martzloff said he'd activated North High School's crisis team in response to the suicide to deal with grief. And he said officials are cooperating with potential criminal charges being investigated by local police.

As a parent of three kids in his district, Martzloff promised "student safety is a top priority for me."

Martzloff said today will be devoted across his district to education about bullying, in conjunction with the World Day of Bullying Prevention

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Jamey Rodemeyer
• teen suicide

[coldsake07]

i went to that dumb ass school in that dumbass town.....rotten scumbag little brats that revel in racism and persecutory cruelty. they all get it from thier trash scum parents and the shit spineless teachers smille inwardly while they support the good olboy mentality. you can go anywhere in buffalo and you will never find a larger collection of trashy scum then williamsville. Bunch of creepy McMansion whitebread losers that are real tuff when thay are in burbs but shit themselves inthe city

[gravyboatK]

Expulsion is appropriate here.

[localman12]

Those kids who bully should be ex-spelled from our schools, my tax dollars are paying for kids to get a good education and they have no right to bully other students. Kick them out and let their parents put them in private schools. You'll see how fast these kids stop that shit.