The mother of a teenager who committed suicide because of bullying recently filed a wrongful suit against Hallsville R-IV School District alleging the school district failed to provide safe learning environment.
Attorney Charles "Chip" Gentry, a Jefferson City lawyer who filed the suit for Elizabeth Overstreet on behalf of her daughter, Rylie Wagner, who took her life in April 2017, recently told the St. Louis Record that very few parents have the courage to bring a formal lawsuit to effect meaningful change.
“It is important to make certain school districts not only have anti-bullying policies in place to maintain a safe learning environment, but that they actually measure their effectiveness,” Gentry, a partner at Call & Gentry Law Group in Missouri, said of the lawsuit that was recently moved from state court to the U.S. District Court for Western District of Missouri.
Attorney Chip Gentry
The 108-page amended, 10-count petition details allegations about how the school district did not provide a safe learning environment for Rylie.
Gentry said simply having an anti-bullying policy is not enough. “School districts, their administrators and their teachers must effectively measure whether policies to maintain safe learning environments are actually working,” Gentry said. “Failing these kids cannot become the norm.”
“If a policy isn’t being followed, our children are not safe,” Gentry said. “But if a policy is followed, but safety isn’t enhanced, and children are suffering from bullying, we need to find meaningful solutions and polices that actually make meaningful differences and truly enhance the safety of our kids.”
The only way justice can be served is by a trial, according to Gentry, who noted the suit says, “Rylie’s family have forever lost the love, services, consortium, companionship, comfort, instruction, guidance, counsel, training, and support of Rylie."
No dollar amount for Rylie’s life is listed in the petition since children are our most precious assets, according to Gentry. “We must provide them safe environments,” Gentry said. “While the bricks and mortar of our schools provide walls, it is the policies, processes, and people that must provide the safe learning environment.”
Today, more than ever, everyone agrees bullying, on any level, is wrong and can lead to lasting and permanent damage, according to Gentry.
“Even pushing kids to believe they are out of options and end their lives,” he said. “If current policies are ineffective, school districts must provide better tools to keep our children safe.”