Bullying suit filed against school

Unrestrained bullying led to a Murray County High School junior's suicide, according to a federal lawsuit filed against the school system and principal Gina Linder.

PDF: Murray County Schools Suit

Tyler Lee Long's parents, David and Tina Long, filed the suit Jan. 29 in U.S. District Court in Rome, Ga., asking for a jury trial.

The Longs are seeking "unspecified punitive damages," attorneys fees, associated court costs, "and any additional relief" the court feels is due, documents state.

The Longs claim their son, who had a form of autism called Asperger's syndrome, hanged himself Oct. 17 after a "particularly painful week of bullying at the high school and on the school bus," according to a news release from the family's attorneys, Winston Briggs and Robert Glass, both of Atlanta.

The Longs claim the school system and Ms. Linder "failed to undertake adequate measures to protect him from school bullies," the release states.

Murray County Schools spokesman Dean Donehoo said Friday that system officials "feel confident that, when the facts are established through the process of discovery ... the position of the school system will be vindicated and that liability will not be found."

"We are happy, to some extent, that we will be able to go into a process where a fact-finding will take place, and we believe the facts will show that our position through this process has been correct and that the school system did not do anything incorrect or inappropriate in this matter," Mr. Donehoo said.

Ms. Linder, who is represented by school system attorneys, declined to comment. Those attorneys, Wayne S. Melnick and Stan Hawkins, have 20 days to file a response, records show.

The suit claims a series of bullying incidents started in November 2007 and continued until the day before Tyler committed suicide. Officials took no action to prevent bullying nor to discipline the bullies, the lawsuit states.

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