I Team 8: Bullied

GAS CITY, Ind. (WISH) - There are growing calls for Indiana to toughen its bully law.

An investigation by I-Team 8's Karen Hensel first prompted the law on the books right now that protects all Indiana school children.

However, eight years later a third of all kids live with a daily fear of just walking through school doors.

They don't fear failing a test but having to face the bully. That's because every seven seconds a child is bullied.

A desperate mom called I-Team 8, not knowing what to do, to stop the abuse she says her son has gotten from school bullies.

Garrett’s smile has faded through the years covering up what has been happening to him.

The 12-year-old says, "They call me names, they push me, kick me and hit me.”

Now a 7th grader, Garrett has been bullied since 2nd grade.

He says “I don't want to go outside so I just get on the computer.”

When asked if he is afraid to go outside Garrett responds, “There's just no one to play with."

He is isolated from his old friends and said, “They don’t want to play because they don’t want to get picked on at school.”

For Garrett, walking to class, recess and lunch are all terrifying. At lunch he sits alone, at his own table, by himself.

Last year alone, Garrett missed more than 60 days of school. He hasn't been back to school since November.

His mom, Angie Owlsley told I-Team 8, "Trying to get him up to go to school is very hard, very hard. He does want to go. He has developed medical problems like irritable bowel syndrome. It only happens when he knows he has to go to school.”

The bullying took a dangerous turn when his mom said Garrett was almost pushed over the railing of the stairs three stories high.

Months later, police were called to the school and according to this police report two boys tried to push Garrett off the gym bleachers.

Angie documented the injury with home video after she says one child kicked, hit and stabbed Garrett in the arm breaking the skin through his shirt.

She has gone to the school repeatedly asking for help. There are police reports, a doctors statement, a complaint to the Indiana Department of Education, a Civil Rights complain and then from a counselor last year: "Garrett's emotional problems have worsened, his academics have directly suffered, and he has been the victim of ongoing harassment and assault (bullying) by peers. These safety concerns only intensify the sense of urgency for a concrete plan to be established."

I-Team 8 contacted Garrett’s school in Gas City to talk about Garrett’s case or even just the schools policy on bullying in general. The school responded with "no comment" on both.

So, I-Team 8 took the issue to the Indiana Department of Education. They too refused an interview saying they cannot make schools enforce the bully law.

So, I-Team 8’s Karen Hensel asked Garrett, “Do you feel safe at school?”

Garrett said, “No.”

Karen asked, “Why?”

“None of the teachers ever do anything and I always get picked on everyday,” Garrett said.

Karen asked, “Are you upset with the other kids who don’t want to hang with you because they're afraid they’ll be picked on?”

Garrett said, “Not really, because I understand they don’t want to have to go to school everyday like me.”

That is concerning to Indiana State Senator Tom Wyss who passed the first bully policy five years ago after watching our I-Team 8 hidden camera investigation into school playgrounds.

Senator Wyss said, “It was a mandate to do it but not a mandate on how to do it. Unfortunately, what we are seeing is a lot of schools not following it, giving lip service, not doing it.”

Senator Wyss wants to toughen the law in the next session to make sure it is actually enforced and not just words in a school policy manual.

In our initial hidden camera investigation, I-Team 8 found teachers say they take bullying seriously. But I-Team 8 found they were often on the other side of the playground where no one was watching, no one noticed. When asked where the teachers were when all of this was happening Garrett replied “over talking with the other teachers.”

His mother says through tears “I cannot send my son back to that school. He has no chance.”

On Monday morning, 160,000 American children will stay home from school because of bullying.

Our 2002 investigation "Bullied: Silent Tears" was supposed to change that. It was supposed to protect children in Indiana and keep them safe.

But too many parents are saying the schools, even with a bully policy, still do nothing to stop it.

There are so many suicides now linked to bullying as documented by Yale University that there is a new term for it: Bullycide ( Read more about Bullycide victims ).

Senator Wyss is committed to toughening the bully law and already has a meeting set with Dr. Tony Bennett and his staff at the Indiana Department of Education next week.

I-Team 8 will keep following the issue affecting so many Indiana children.