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Teenager Cyberbullied Over Vaxx Status Commits Suicide; Parents File Lawsuit

Commentary

It’s tough being a teenager in our social media saturated world where rumor and reputation live hand in hand. For one Chicago teen, however, the stress over persistent cyberbulling about his vaxx status was too much to bear, leading to his committing suicide.

Nate Bronstein, 15, hanged himself in the shower in January after repeated cyberbulling claims that he was not vaxxed against the novel coronavirus, his parents said. Robert and Roselline Bronstein filed a lawsuit in Cook County against administrators for the Latin School of Chicago claiming they committed wilful failure to prevent the incessant bullying against the 10th grader.  Also named in the lawsuit are parents of the alleged bullies.

Nate had received the jab but the rumors that he hadn’t received it persisted and expanded to include one incident where another student urged Bronstein to kill himself on Snapchat a month before he took his own life. The 15-year-old had reportedly requested a meeting with the school’s dean of students over this bullying incident, something which his parent didn’t know about.

Though Nate had met with a school administrator, the students involved were not disciplined for their cyberbullying. When Nate’s mother contacted a school counselor about the problem, they reportedly dismissed her concerns as ‘family issues.’ His mother reportedly contacted the school 30 times between the months of October and November, but administrators turned a ‘blind eye,’ the lawsuit alleges.

Nate’s parents even met with the bullies’ families but the harrassment of their son increased, according to the lawsuit.  The Bronsteins also claim that a teacher told Nate that he was going nowhere in life.

The school has dismissed the Bronstein’s allegations as unfounded claims and issued a statement expressing empathy for Nate’s parents while defending the school’s faculty and staff.

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‘Our hearts go out to the family, and we wish them healing and peace,’ the statement read. ‘With respect to their lawsuit, however, the allegations of wrongdoing by the school officials are inaccurate and misplaced. The school’s faculty and staff are compassionate people who put students’ interests first, as they did in this instance.’

Latin School of Chicago is a college prep school with an annual tuition hovering around $40,000. Bronstein reportedly transfered to the school during the pandemic because it offered in-person learning.