{"id":6030,"date":"2012-04-04T13:22:11","date_gmt":"2012-04-04T17:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=6030"},"modified":"2012-04-04T13:22:15","modified_gmt":"2012-04-04T17:22:15","slug":"teens-suicide-has-florida-lawmaker-seeking-action-for-victims-of-bullying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2012\/04\/04\/teens-suicide-has-florida-lawmaker-seeking-action-for-victims-of-bullying\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen’s Suicide Has Florida Lawmaker Seeking Action For Victims Of Bullying"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Facebook<\/p>

Lennon Baldwin<\/p><\/div>\n

The repercussions of bullying recently hit home for a Florida legislator<\/a>.\u00a0 A family friend committed suicide<\/a>, and classmates say it followed repeated harassment.<\/p>\n

Port Richey Republican Representative John Legg was moved enough by the tragedy to send a letter to Florida Education Commissioner<\/a> Gerard Robinson.\u00a0 He wrote about 15-year-old Lennon Baldwin<\/a>, who \u201ccommitted suicide last week as a result of being harassed at school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legg, a father of five who is also an administrator and teacher, asked Robinson for assistance dealing with what he said is a growing problem everywhere: school bullying and harassment. He wrote, \u201cBullying in our schools, regardless of whether it is occurring online or in the classroom, is becoming more and more prevalent. A great deal of discussion has taken place in recent years in an attempt to put an end to bullying. Yet, the problem still persists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lennon Baldwin was a high school freshman. Investigators are trying to determine whether bullying led to his suicide. The prosecutor in Morris County, NJ is asking anyone with information about why Baldwin killed himself to contact law enforcement.<\/p>\n

At Baldwin\u2019s funeral, his father told mourners, \u201cWhatever you\u2019re involved in, there is nothing that you can\u2019t go to your parents with\u2026Your parents are your anchor. They brought you into this world to defend and protect you\u2026Trust in your parents, and their unconditional love.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal government recently unveiled<\/a> its new and improved website, www.stopbullying.gov<\/a>. It covers a range of topics, from cyber bullying to anti-bullying laws around the country. For those who want more information, countless websites are devoted to the topic, like this one from education.com<\/a> and this list<\/a> from the Florida Department of Education.<\/p>\n

In his letter, Rep. Legg told Commissioner Robinson<\/a> he wants to help create a safe environment for students and establish a mechanism so that students who feel threatened can get assistance and treatment, if needed. \u201cNo child should feel this threatened anywhere,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The repercussions of bullying recently hit home for a Florida legislator.\u00a0 A family friend committed suicide, and classmates say it followed repeated harassment. Port Richey Republican Representative John Legg was moved enough by the tragedy to send a letter to Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson.\u00a0 He wrote about 15-year-old Lennon Baldwin, who \u201ccommitted suicide last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[1095,337,338],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6030"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6030\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}