Ashlynn Conner, Age 10, Commits Suicide Because of Bullies

Fifth grade Illinois girl commits suicide, family blames bullies
A fifth-grader in Illinois is dead and her family says bullies are to blame

By Jessica Shaw
CNN
4:41 p.m. EST, November 14, 2011

A fifth-grader in Illinois is dead and her family says bullies are to blame. The 10-year-old girl committed suicide after asking her mom if she could be homeschooled.

"I really thought she had it all under control because I thought she was listening to me," said Stacy Conner, Ashlynn's mother.

story & video:
http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-ashlynn-conner-fifthgrade-illinois-girl-commits-suicide-family-blames-bullies-20111114,0,1908136.story

Ashlynn Conner commits suicide, family cites bullying
11:24 AM, Nov 15, 2011
Vermilion, IL (WICD)
Written by
Kristen Gosling

The family of a dead 10-year-old girl in Vermilion County, Illinois said she killed herself because she was bullied.

Ashlynn Conner was a third grader who loved to help others.

"She brings this bag down the hallway, just bringing it down the hallway and she brought it to me and said they were clothes and they were to go to Haiti," said Stacy Conner, Ashlynn's mother. "She didn't want them anymore because they needed them more than she did."

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/285892/3/Ashlynn-Conner-commits-suicide-family-cites-bullying

Ashlynn Conner, 10-Year-Old, Hanged Herself After Bullying, Parents Say
The Huffington Post Laura Hibbard
First Posted: 11/14/11 12:09 PM ET Updated: 11/14/11 12:09 PM ET

A few weeks ago, 10-year-old Ashlynn Conner told her mother she was being bullied at Ridge Farm Elementary School and in her neighborhood in Ridge Farm, Ill., WTSP reported.

Last week, Ashlynn's mother, denied her daughter's request to be home schooled. The following day, the 10-year-old's sister found her hanging in her closet by a scarf.

The devastated single mother told WCIA3 News she knew her daughter was being picked on, but not to that extent.

"They'd call her a slut," a tearful Conner told the station, "'Ashlynn's ugly.' 'She's fat.'"

story & video:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/14/ashlynn-conner-ten-year-o_n_1092683.html

VIDEO: 01:48 | 11/15/2011

http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/10-year-old-bullying-victim-ashlynn-conner-commits-suicide-14956254?tab=9482931§ion=1206833
ABC 11-15-11

Bullying Drive Girl to Suicide?
Ashlynn Conner's family says the Illinois girl was taunted at school.

Was this 10-year-old bullied to death? Girl asked mom to be home-schooled the day before taking her own life
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 12:52 PM on 16th November 2011

On the surface, 10-year-old Ashlynn Connor was a happy-go-lucky girl - a cheerleader and honour student at her school.
But she also carried with her the torment of bullies, who called her names at school and in her neighbourhood of Ridge Farm, Illinois.
Her mother Stacy said she knew about the bullying, but never thought it would drive Ashlynn to kill herself.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2062032/Ashlynn-Conner-Bullying-victim-10-asked-mother-home-schooled-day-suicide.html#ixzz1dzpKF4PL

10-year-old girl's death stuns small town
By Andy Grimm and Becky Schlikerman
Tribune reporters
6:00 a.m. CST, November 17, 2011

RIDGE FARM, Ill.—A line of cars rolled slowly past Ridge Farm Elementary School Wednesday and into Crown Hill Cemetery for the burial of 10-year-old Ashlynn Conner.

Many of Ashlynn’s classmates stood clutching powder-blue balloons beside her casket. Tugging against tiny hands in a chilly afternoon breeze, each balloon carried a note to the fifth-grader, who was found dead Friday in an apparent suicide her loved ones say was prompted by years of bullying by schoolmates and neighborhood children.

The details of the fifth-grader’s death have thrust this downstate hamlet into the national spotlight — and generated local debate — over how best to protect children from schoolyard taunting that goes too far.

“My note says, ‘I don’t think you were mean, you were a really good person,’” said 11-year-old Olivia Tucker, whose mother used to baby sit for Ashlynn before the Tuckers moved to nearby Danville.

more:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-funeral-today-for-girl-10-whose-family-says-killed-herself-because-of-bullying-20111116,0,3663336.story

I think it's high time that teachers start taking a stand and quit taking the easy road. They are the ones who are with our children day in and day out - for more hours a day than the kids are at home - and I feel that they are just as responsible as the parents when it comes to bullies and dealing with them.

I have heard teachers in my own town say "kids will be kids" then turn their backs on the situation.

Kids can be so cruel...I tried to teach my youngins "If you can't say something nice, then you should say nothing"..and try to find something nice/you like abou a person, ie: hair style, dress, color they are wearing, shoes, anything.