School district agrees to pay $3M in bullied child's suicide

The parents of an 8-year-old boy who killed himself after being bullied repeatedly at an Ohio school have reached a tentative $3 million settlement with his school district

CINCINNATI -- The parents of an 8-year-old boy who killed himself after being bullied repeatedly at an Ohio school have reached a tentative $3 million settlement with his school district.

The agreement announced Friday will go to the school board for Cincinnati Public Schools on Monday for approval in the Gabriel Taye case that dates to 2017.

The schools also agreed to actions to prevent a repeat of such bullying with such steps as training and supervising all staff on anti-bullying reforms and to working to identify repeat offenders, victims and locations. There will be two years of oversight of the district's anti-bullying plan.

A memorial to Gabriel will also be placed at Carson School, the elementary school he attended.

“In honor of Gabe, his family is using this settlement to protect current and future CPS students,” said the family’s lawyer, Al Gerhardstein. “We will make sure these reforms take root and end bullying throughout the CPS system.”

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that attorney Aaron Herzig, a partner at the Taft law firm who represented the school district in the case, said a resolution was in everyone’s best interest.

“The defendants strongly believe that neither CPS, its employees, nor the school nurse were responsible for the tragic death of Gabriel Taye,” Herzig said. “CPS embraces the goal of eliminating bullying within schools, as well as continuing to refine and improve reporting, management, and training processes related to incidents of bullying.”

The wrongful death lawsuit cited repeated examples of Gabriel and others being bullied at his elementary school. His parents contended that school officials knew about the bullying but were “deliberately indifferent,” allowing a “treacherous school environment.”

goodguyclay on June 5th, 2021 at 13:41 UTC »

I was bullied throughout elementary and middle school. I can remember numerous meetings my parents had with the school, the school never did anything about it. My parents finally told me I could stand up for myself and wouldn’t get in trouble with them. So one day I did. I fought back. I got 2 weeks suspension, the other 2 kids nothing. They believed I was the aggressor, not the other 2 kids.

nassy23 on June 5th, 2021 at 10:05 UTC »

An 8 year old killing himself should never happen. It's hard for me to imagine a child that age carrying such a heavy burden.

The article has no details and makes me wonder whether the parents of the oppressors knew what was going on. They should have been notified to hold some responsibility for the situation.

Deedledroxx on June 5th, 2021 at 10:02 UTC »

In first grade, he was injured on the playground in what officials called an accident, but his two front teeth had to be removed.

In second grade, students hit Gabriel in two instances but were never punished. Gabriel’s parents say the school never called them.

Three times in October 2016, three months before Gabriel died, students punched or hit him, and once when he hit back, school leaders warned he’d be punished if he defended himself again.

On Halloween, Gabriel suffered a head injury, but Jackson and McKenzie told his mother they could not determine how it happened. They refused her request to look at video footage of the playground.

Earlier in January 2017, Gabriel was attacked and injured three other times. McKenzie told Gabriel’s mother that no video captured the incidents, and Gabriel’s injuries amounted to “horseplay.” McKenzie did not tell Gabriel’s mother that he had suspended two students for attacking Gabriel.

And these are only the small amount of incidents we know about.

His whole life at school this kid was repeatedly beat the shit out of, picked on, and bullied. And nobody did a damn thing to stop it.

Quoted text from here: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2021/01/03/appeals-court-ruling-sends-case-of-8-year-olds-suicide-back-for-trial/4088831001/