Las Vegas girl, 12, kills herself after being tormented by bullies at school for months
A 12-year-old Las Vegas girl took her own life after months of being tormented by bullies at her high school.
Flora Martinez, a sixth-grader at Keller Middle School, committed suicide on May 7, eight months and a day after she was denied a transfer from Duane D. Keller Middle School. Her funeral was Thursday.
Her distraught parents are now blaming the Clark County School District for not doing enough to protect their daughter.
Grieving mother, Alice Martinez said News8: ‘I feel like the school had a duty to protect her while she was in their care and they just failed miserably.’
The young girl’s parents said their daughter’s peers began bullying her early in the school year. Flora’s mother claimed that both she and her child asked the assistant principal for help.
The mother then filed paperwork for her daughter’s high school transfer, but her request was denied in October.
Flora Martinez, 12, took her own life on May 7 after months of bullying
Flora’s mother said she took her daughter out of school for two weeks at the beginning of the school year when the bullying started, but when she went back to school it got worse.
“Everyone involved in that request to transfer her failed her. If you are a parent and you are not outraged by this, then you are part of the problem,” Martinez said.
Flora’s father Joshua Parker said: ‘This wasn’t just an incident, and you know, she decided to kill herself.
“This was months and months and months of bullying piling up, and eventually she just couldn’t take it anymore.”
The heartbroken dad added: “Look how hard it was for my daughter. My daughter was literally bullied to death.”
Flora’s parents describe their daughter as artistic. Someone who was “full of life, empathetic and loved” ice cream and seafood.
DailyMail.com reached out to the Clark County School District for comment.
The tragic story comes just days after it emerged that a 10-year-old boy, Sammy Teusch, committed suicide in Indiana on March 5 after relentless bullying at school about his teeth and glasses.
His Greenfield parents said they complained repeatedly to his school but were ignored. His funeral was Tuesday and was attended by hundreds.
Flora stands with her father who holds a ‘My sweetheart’ sign
Flora’s heartbroken parents, Alice Martinez and Joshua Parker, claim the school failed them and failed to protect their daughter
Duane D. Keller Middle School, located on North Fogg Street, is the school Flora attended. The school teaches grades six through nine, and has a student population of 1,189
Sammy’s parents, Sam and Nichole, said their son was bullied both physically and emotionally at his school and was tormented daily until the night he died.
They said the bullying started last year when he was in elementary school and followed him to Greenfield Intermediate School.
The harassment escalated to a recent incident on a school bus in which he was reportedly beaten. Sammy’s parents claimed they told teachers and school staff about the bullying 20 times, but no action was taken.
His father Sam told WTHR: “At first they made fun of him for his glasses, then for his teeth. It took a long time.’
‘I held him in my arms. I did what no father should ever do, and every time I close my eyes, it’s all I can see.”
The abuse then turned physical, with Sam adding: ‘He got beat up on the school bus and the kids broke his glasses and stuff.
‘I called the school and I was like, ‘What are you doing about this? It keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse. And it doesn’t get any better. In fact, it’s getting worse.’
Sammy Teusch, 10, committed suicide on May 5 after suffering horrific bullying
Greenfield Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Harold Olin, told WTHR that no bullying report was ever filed by the parents or Sammy.
He added that school administrators and counselors had been in regular contact with the family but declined to provide details of those conversations.
Sam added: ‘[The school] knew this was going on,” with the bullying moving from the school and the bus to social media platforms like Snapchat.
His mother Nichole said: “He was my little boy. He was my baby. He was the youngest.’
Greenfield-Central Community School said in a statement: “The death of Samuel Teusch is tragic and has left our school corporation and the greater community in tremendous sadness. Our thoughts go out to the family at this time.
“Sammy has been studying at Greenfield-Central for the past year and a half. He completed his third grade at Weston Elementary School in May 2023, and he was a fourth grade student at Greenfield Intermediate School during the current 2023-2024 school year.
“We were notified of his death on Sunday afternoon and we sent our crisis response team to both Greenfield Intermediate School and Greenfield Central Junior High School (where he has two siblings) to start the week.
“Our staff at Greenfield-Central has worked extensively with the Teusch family over the past eighteen months. There was frequent contact between school staff and parents.
“The parents have reported the manner of death as suicide and we are investigating their claims of bullying.
“While the investigation continues, we are focusing our resources primarily on meeting the immediate needs of the students we serve in Greenfield-Central Schools.”
Indiana police have now launched an investigation into the shock suicide and have said his classmates could face criminal charges.