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Sonoma School District sued for wrongful death of bullying victim

Posted on July 13, 2016 by Sonoma Valley Sun

A father who says his teenage son needlessly endured constant bullying on the high school campus before taking his own life has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Sonoma Valley School District.

Adam Kizer, a 16-year-old freshman, was taken off life support on May 30, 2015, four days after attempting suicide.

The teen was subjected to “constant, relentless harassment” during his freshman year, William Kizer said, including insults, threatening text messages and physical attacks.

The District was negligent in allowing the extreme behavior to continue, he alleges.

“The school should provide a safe environment,” Kizer told The Sun. “All he wanted was a normal school, and they couldn’t provide it.”

In an email response to The Sun Thursday morning, SVSD Superintendent Louann Carlomagno stated, “The district has not yet seen the lawsuit and cannot comment on confidential student information.”

Adam had suffered from clinical depression, but started the school year in a positive state of mind. After spending time in a group home following an arrest for fighting – he was striking back against bullies at Adele Harrison school, his father said – Adam was ready for a fresh start at Sonoma High. “There were no signs of depression,” Kizer said.

But the bullying soon began, instigated primarily by a group of four students. The four attacked Kizer after a school event in November, sending him to the hospital. There were 15-20 incidents of verbal bullying over the coarse of the school year, he said, and he filed a complaint each time.

“The school did nothing,” Kizer said. “They ignored all of them. It was, ‘we’ll look into it,’ but they never did.”

Also ignored, Kizer said, was a ‘safety plan’ worked out with administrators before the school year began. Because of Adam’s history, which included multiple suicide attempts, a school counselor or therapist was to check on him every day, to gauge his anxiety and comfort level.

Despite the agreement, Kizer said, there was no follow-through. “The school did nothing,” he said. “I couldn’t tell you one time they did it.”

Meanwhile, Adam was receiving text messages such as, “Go kill yourself.” His mood darkened. “He filled 14 journals with what was going on, the constant harassment,” Kizer said. “He was overwhelmed.”

Kizer said that not only was there no psychiatric support, the school did nothing to address the behavior of the four primary bullies, who had been identified by multiple eyewitnesses. Administrators would not tell him what, if any, disciplinary measures were taken against any of the four. “The response was, ‘they’re minors – we can’t tell you what we’re doing.”

Kizer said he requested a copy of Adam’s file, which he expected would include copies of the complaints and statements he had made over the school year. He was told the paperwork was missing. “They said, ‘it’s not here, it must have been misfiled.’”

The wrongful-death suit seeks unspecified money damages. “It’s not about the money, but to get the district’s attention. The (bullying) issue is not being addressed. To me, they just don’t care.”



7 thoughts on “Sonoma School District sued for wrongful death of bullying victim

  1. Blessings to this family and peace to them for their loss. Our schools bring in pep rally support and do these campaigns which claim they support anti bullying, however when a child is constantly bullied and/ or cyber bullied and the schools don’t ENFORCE their policy, the kids become another statistic. My kids have all dealt with varying levels of this nonsense also, the schools dont want us parents to take matters into our own hands, yet they allow these punks whose parents obviously do not care , continue to make victims out of our kids. This is one of the richest counties in the Great State of California, let’s put our money where our mouth is SVUSD! This and many other kids from Sonoma have this heartbreaking story, cone on people, dont bury your heada in the sand! Parents and teachers lets teach our kids that hate and bullying have devastating effects, and have NO PLACE IN OUR SCHOOLS, and school officials, please stop being cowards, stand up for the right things, and most of all stand up for our kids!!!

  2. While my mother was sedated and on life support about 5 years ago, the school district came in and somehow had her sign retirement papers that basically cost her her 38 years or retirement..not sure how they did it but they have gotten so awful and non caring of the very valley they are there to serve… id love to sue them too but my mother begged me not to pursue it. Lynne Torzilli was a staple at Sonoma Valley unified school district and now she is barelt a memory of yet another person they took advantage of.

  3. My brother was one of the most positive infuences in my life. Rest in peace

  4. My son was also bullied at Sonoma Valley High. He suffers from depression and low self esteem and the bullies were quick to move in on him as an easy target. He has not become suicidal but instead offers a cold sarcastic front for the world and doesn’t trust many people to be genuinely kind. He tells me” the other kids pretended to like me and then set me up as a joke”.
    This began in middle school and continued through high school. Their was one teacher, Mr. Ryan, who helped him get through this difficult time. He addressed the bullies and my son and coached an intervention which helped a lot. Luckily Mr. Ryan also moved to the high school from middle school and I believe he was the only one that was proactive for the issues of bullying.We are grateful for his help but it just wasn’t enough, more admin. and teachers need to address this horrible reality that hurts many kids, not just at school but for their lives afterward.
    I hope SVUSD gets this message really clearly, we, as parents trust the school district to educate our children in a safe environment and it just hasn’t taken the effects of bullying seriously enough.
    A prayer for all the kids, bullies and the bullied. Another prayer for the parents and school leaders to listen to the kids and intervene without allowing the cruelness to continue. Thank you.

  5. I love an miss you something horrible.son… Rest In peace with the angels above. Oxoxox
    Love, Mom.

  6. I hope you win millions of dollars and the superintendent of school’s head on a platter!! I have a son who has learning disabilities and he was kicked out of school! He was kicked out again on the very first day of high school. I sued them and won. I didn’t sue for money, but I should have!

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