Glamorous teacher who ‘joined in on bullying 12-year-old girl’ before she attempted suicide revealed

Kelaia Turner’s bullying was so bad that at one point even her glamorous teacher joined in, bringing the schoolgirl closer to taking her own life.

That’s a claim at the center of a shocking lawsuit against Olivia Grace Bennett and her colleagues at the Dr. Phinnize J. Fisher Middle School in Greenville, South Carolina.

Kelaia, then 12, endured merciless bullying from five classmates, who called her “cockroach” and “a man” and physically attacked her, the suit alleges.

Instead of stopping the bullies, Bennett, 26, was allegedly “complicit,” pointing at the abused student as her classmates mocked.

In 2023, the troubled girl attempted suicide – a failed attempt that left her brain damaged and requiring 24-hour care.

Her devastated mother, Ty Turner, and other family members are suing the school district, Bennet, and seven other educators for failing to answer their desperate calls for help.

“They always taught us, ‘Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me,'” the mother said WYF44.

“Unfortunately, words hurt.”

The school denies the allegations and is fighting the case. A spokesperson for Greenville County Schools told DailyMail.com that teachers have addressed all bullying at the school.

Bennett, of Spartanburg County, still works at the school but did not return our request for comment.

Kelaia, now 14, was a promising student who enjoyed learning the piano and performing recitals.

She endured more than a year of physical and verbal abuse from classmates at the school of about 1,000 students, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit, filed last summer in U.S. District Court in South Carolina, says the harassment began in 2021, when Kelaia began wearing her natural braided hair to school.

Students called her “roach” and other insults.

Her teacher, Bennett, a self-described “film nerd and Disney fanatic,” is said to have joined the bullies.

Court papers detail an incident on December 17, 2021 when “fellow students called her a man and cockroach in Olivia Bennett’s class.”

‘Madam. Bennett was complicit in the bullying and said nothing to the other students to stop it,” the complaint adds.

“A student asked, “Where’s the cockroach?”, and Ms. Bennett pointed to ‘Kelaia,’ the complaint alleges.

Tensions escalated in 2022 when Kelaia got into a fight with another student, and teachers decided to suspend her, but not the bully, the complaint alleges.

The tormentors then poured water on Kelaia’s clothes and then threw them in the trash, the lawsuit alleges.

Kelaia saw suicide as her only way out and attempted suicide at home in March 2023.

She was dead for eight minutes before paramedics could revive her.

Ty has described the painful moment she discovered her daughter’s limp body.

“She was cool to the touch and there was blood coming from her nose,” she said.

“She was completely committed to what she was trying to do, and she was gone for eight whole minutes.”

Kelaia was in a coma for weeks and had suffered severe brain damage that left her incapacitated.

While Kelaia was in a coma, one of the bullies went to the intensive care unit in April 2023 and took pictures of the intubated girl, the filing said.

They posted the photos on social media and spread rumors online about her injuries, the 24-page document adds.

The girl’s parents say they have repeatedly complained to school officials about the bullying.

Ty has warned them repeatedly via email, phone and in-person visits, but says they have not acted.

They were “grossly negligent and reckless” when it came to Kelaia’s well-being, the complaint says.

Ty says she accuses the district of abandoning her daughter and allowing the bullying to continue unchecked for a year and a half.

The family is seeking a jury trial and damages from district and faculty members.

The money will cover her medical bills, psychiatric costs, special education, her parents’ lost wages while they cared for her, life care costs, disability care and other costs.

The school says it has a strict anti-bullying policy and will fight the case.

We “have investigated and addressed each of the reported incidents in accordance with policy and the law,” spokesman Tim Waller told DailyMail.com.

‘No parental concerns or reports of bullying were ignored, and all were discussed directly with the student’s mother.’

He added that “while we disagree with the allegations, our thoughts are with Kelaia Tecora Turner, her mother and their family.”

Doctors have told Ty that her daughter will never be able to speak or move again.

But the mother, a devout Christian, hopes for divine intervention.

An online fundraiser has raised more than $141,000 to help the struggling family caring for her at home.

“So much has grown from talking about an incident that no parent wants to experience,” Ty recently wrote.

‘We are beyond GRATEFUL for your support!’

Ty founded an anti-bullying organization in Kelaia’s honor called Keeping Accountability, Uniting Students, Educating.

On the Gofundme.com page, donors have posted about their own experiences with bullying at school.

About 20 American children take their own lives each year after classroom bullying, according to data from the United Educators Association.

These frightening figures come amid a mental health crisis among young people, caused in part by peer pressure and 24-hour social media.

The U.S. Department of Education warns that about a quarter of students are bullied regularly.

The Megan Meier Foundation, a Missouri-based nonprofit, says children who have been bullied or cyberbullied are twice as likely to take their own lives as others.

Yet teachers and police officers who have investigated cases of bullying say it is difficult to tackle.

Parents and victims often call for action against perpetrators, but often the reported behavior does not meet the criteria for sanctions or prosecution.

Some experts also question the link between bullying and suicide.

Brenda Carrillo, director of student services at Santa Clara Unified School District in California, says it’s a “complex issue.”

“The idea of ​​conflating suicide and bullying is a dangerous idea,” Carrillo said.

Parents of bullied schoolchildren are increasingly filing wrongful death lawsuits against schools and teachers for failing to act.

They often do this after police end their investigation without charging any bullies, but the lawsuits have a patchy success story.

An Arizona judge last summer dismissed a complaint against Chandler Unified School District filed by one of the parents of a student who died by suicide in 2022.

The lawsuit claims the freshman was bullied and harassed, but the school didn’t do enough to stop it. The district denied the allegations.