The family of Nigel Shelby, a 14-year-old Huntsville, Alabama teenager, has launched a lawsuit against Huntsville City Schools for civil rights violations and wrongful death. Shelby, a gay youth, took his own life in 2019 following extensive bullying at school over his sexual orientation.
“Fourteen-year-old Nigel Shelby was bullied by his peers for his race and sexual orientation, and when he sought help from school administrators, was told that his sexuality was his choice,” the family said in a statement, according to Alabama.com. “School administrators did not alert Nigel’s parents of his struggles in school so that he could receive help from a licensed mental health professional. On April 18, 2019, Nigel Shelby died by suicide. Following his death, school administrators alerted Nigel’s mother to look for a suicide note in his backpack, revealing that they were aware of his plans to take his own life.”
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Huntsville City Schools released a statement of their own last month, apparently anticipating the lawsuit. The district reiterated that it does not support bullying, and has resources available for LGBTQ students to receive counseling as well.
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“The district wishes to remind students, families, and staff members of the longstanding resources in place to support students,” the statement read in part. “At the district level, pillar two of the district’s strategic plan is Whole Student Development. This pillar includes resources dedicated to supporting the social and emotional needs of students. These include feeder-pattern social workers, licensed mental health professionals, and frequent professional development for staff on topics including culturally responsive instruction; equity and inclusion; and suicide prevention.”
Mack
I would hope the parents wins, but being in Alabama I doubt it. The only ones who seems to have “bullying” protection are the rightwing religious zealots-you know the groups who make up shit to suit their bigotry and racism.
Jay002
I think that every student who’s being bullied needs to get it on camera. It is probably the only way to bring more attention to young people being bullied. I wish I had video of the way I was treated by other kids, teachers, neighbors and family. One of my tormentors had a kid right out of high school and guess what? Their son turned out to be gay I would never wish what happened to me to happen to their son, But it does make me feel good That maybe now they see that what they did to me was horribly wrong.
msfrost
Yup!!!
Fahd
With youtube, tiktok, etc. there is video. When a lawsuit reaches the point of being announced in the media, it means the parties haven’t been able to settle. It’s probably the school district digging in; for shame! Huntsville is a military town in Alabama, so there’s that. School districts need to do more than alert parents if they are aware of a student being bullied, and all their talk of programs and alliances takes on the appearance of “covering your as*” in light of what has happened. May the poor child RIP.
mark2029
Sue them. If women sue for millions to lower strip club age from 21 to 18 then do. Bully fornicating drug dealers exchanging for drugs
James26
One interesting thing about these gay bullying/suicide cases is that the bullies are never named. They suffer no shaming, no real consequences for driving someone to suicide. The school district may or may not have to pay money, but the bullies will pay nothing and will go about their lives carefree.
The one and only exception is the Tyler Clementi case, where two bully were named and prosecuted (with lots of accomplices let off free). Otherwise, the bullies enjoy complete anonymity and none of the victims’ families, even the ones who sue, ever name the bullies. It’s like they feel some sort of moral duty to shield the kids who drove their sons to suicide.
Heywood Jablowme
No, it’s because the bullies are still juveniles. Tyler Clementi was an exception because his bullies were also over 18 and could be named.
James26
@Heywood Jablowme There is no law which prevents an individual, such as a family member, from disclosing who the bullies are. If a parent spoke to the Washington Post and said “Tom Jones, age 14, relentlessly bullied my gay son until he killed himself,” the parent would not be violating any law. These parents simply choose to protect the identities of the killers. For reasons that are a mystery to me.
When there is a court proceeding against a minor, then there might be a court order protecting the name of the minor defendant. But there haven’t been any proceedings against the bullies in these various gay-related bullying cases, and even then, the order would apply only to the parties and witnesses to the case, not to people who are not parties to the case. In some countries, such as Canada, a court might on rare occasions have a universal gag order. But those don’t exist in the US and even in Canada, they would only apply to a judicial proceeding.
Heywood Jablowme
See my post below about 13 year old Diego Stolz. Not a suicide; he was killed at school by his bullies who were also 13. If you see the names of his bullies anywhere, let us know here!
Jack Meoff
This is a tragic story and yes the school should have dine more to intervene or at least notify the parents but I still have to ask why weren’t his parents reading the signs at home and stepping in. To many parents want to ignore this kind of thing because they don’t know how to deal with it. My own included.
Cam
It is the school’s responsibility to prevent assaults and bullying while kids are in their care. It is irrelevant whether he had the most amazing sensitive parents in the world, or didn’t. This sits on the school. They were aware of the situation, the parents weren’t.
Heywood Jablowme
There was a bullying case in 2019 in Riverside County, CA where the victim (Diego Stolz, age 13) was punched, hit his head on a concrete pillar and later died. Two bullies were charged with manslaughter. Since they were only 13 the law didn’t allow their names to be released.
In the months before the fatal incident, Diego’s family made many complaints to teachers and the principal, who all fluttered around aimlessly like they usually do, saying how awful it was and promising they would do something. (I bet they also said “he should stand up for himself more,” whatever the f**k that means, just like they did when I was 13.)
The original attorneys for the school district actually blamed Diego for his own death. (Yes, you’re reading that right.) There was an uproar from the community and the school district hired new lawyers. The manslaughter charges were eventually dropped and the bullies were sentenced to community service.
Kangol2
Absolutely horrific. Those school administrators and the teachers and aides who did nothing have a child’s blood on their hands.
Mister P
I fell terrible for him and his family. I wish he could have hung on to see that things do get better.
My condolences to his mother and family.
Jake123
The bullies should be named!!
Kangol2
My heart goes out to this poor child and his family. Sue the school district for all it’s worth!