"It's sad. It's really sad," said Latrisha White, who knew something was going on with her 13 year old granddaughter, Erica, when her behavior suddenly changed overnight. "She would come home from school and all she would do was just sleep."
Erica used to go to Whitney Middle School, but the bullying got so bad she had to move to another part of the state, leaving her grandmother wondering why this had gotten so out of control.
"It really makes me sad because I really hate to see her going through what she was going through," said White.
This week, Byrd Middle School is bringing the issue of bullying to the forefront with the help of community outreach group Operation Aware.
According to the organization, of the victims who report bullying, 51% tell their friends, 34% tell their mom or dad, and 15% tell a teacher. Of the victims who tell, only 19% believe the bullying gets better after they tell someone.
"This can lead to mental stress, anguish, students feeling left out, students feeling confused and sometimes students even harming themselves," said Mackenzie Staples, Manager of Curriculum & Instruction for Operation Aware.
Even if victims don't harm themselves physically, leftover emotional scars can perpetuate the problem.
"They internalize that and we often see where the student who's being bullied will lash out and become a bully themselves," said Staples.
