Twelve years ago, mom Amy Doherty lost a daughter to suicide.
As Doherty told KSDK, she believes her 14-year-old daughter took her own life in 2007 partly because of the bullying she faced while attending Fort Zumwalt East High School in Missouri.
Doherty said:
“She was bullied and bullied to the point where she took her life and we don’t want to relive this.”
Unfortunately, watching one of her children being bullied is something she is being forced to relive.
In a video posted to her personal Facebook account on December 14, Doherty revealed that another one of her daughters is also dealing with bullying at the same school her other daughter once did.
The video shows a group of girls screaming at Doherty’s daughter that her friends only use her for the things she has:
Change.org Amy Doherty UPDATE: Please SIGN and SHAREPETITION to stiffen mo bullying laws????Continue reading for…
Posted by Amy Sanders Doherty on Friday, December 14, 2018
One girl can be heard telling the teen to “shut up” before saying:
“…nobody likes you.”
Doherty’s daughter then retaliates by asking the girl yelling at her, “Why are you being so rude?”
The girl continues to yell profanities until the 45-second clip comes to an end. Doherty said after watching the video herself:
“It broke my heart and that’s what she’s been living for a couple of years.”
Along with the shocking video, Doherty also attached a petition she created on Change.org in order to “stiffen [no] bullying laws”:
So my daughters Macy is very sweet and small. She “wears her heart on her sleeve”. And I think other girls know that she is the one they can pick on. The video I’m going to post is how her days at school go. Someone recorded it! Macy is in the gray long sleeve shirt. Suggestions of what I should do to make her feel safe at school????? This is Fort Zumwalt East.
Hundreds of people commented on Doherty’s post.
Some defended the school, while others shared that they were also bullied while attending Fort Zumwalt high schools, and many offered their own advice:
1) Talk to your daughter first. Tell her that she is beautiful inside and out and no one can ever take that away from her. The reason why these girls do this to her is cuz they don’t feel confident about themselves so they have to belittle another person.
2) Don’t ever tell her to start a fight. But always make sure you tell her to be the one that finishes it.
3) Get the school involved immediately
4) Show that video to the other girl’s parents
5) And if 1 through 4 don’t work, send it to the news stations
6) And if one through five don’t work, call me and I’ll put some fear of God in those girls and they’ll never bully anyone again.
After having a meeting with her daughter’s school, Doherty posted an update on Facebook.
She wrote:
Update: Had a meeting at the school! The principles, staff, and security Are great. I do believe they’re going to do everything to protect my daughter. What they can legally do you it’s out of their hands. They can only give up to a 10 day suspension. But the rules definitely need to be changed in the state of Missouri to be able to expel or a longer suspension For these bullies. Stricter penalties Are needed if we’re going to win the battle of the bullies! There is still a girl at school that is making my daughter scared right now that has not yet been suspended that should’ve been. Watch the channel 5 news at six for more information!
Now, the mom is working toward making sure her younger children and other people’s children never have to endure bullying like her two daughters have again by petitioning for stiffer punishments against bullies.
Doherty told KSDK:
“I’ve had hundreds of parents message me personally crying out for help. […] It needs to be standardized. We all need to follow the same consequences at a minimum level.”
Doherty said that she’s “speaking from the heart for myself, my family and every other parent who has reached out to me. We are trying and we are going to go strong on this. We want to change. Our kids need to be safe.”