Community members demanding more from Whitley Schools on bullying, suicide prevention

After the tragic news of a Whitley County Middle School student dying by suicide recently, the young victim’s brother, along with several supporters, gathered in downtown Williamsburg Wednesday to voice their displeasure to the school district. In response, Superintendent John Siler is assuring students and parents that efforts are underway to provide additional support to young people who may be facing a crisis.

“We are out here because my brother, Aidan Early, committed suicide about two weeks ago,” Daniel Edmonson said Wednesday. “He was being bullied. The school and the board of education have made no comment about it, so we are out here with our signs, trying to spread awareness about bullying, and about suicide. It’s a big deal, and we’re just trying to make a difference.”

Edmonson was joined outside of the Whitley County Board of Education building by friends, family, and other concerned community members, including Duane Boldt, who said, “There has been a lot of silence on the side of the school district. I have a child in the middle school, and I worry every day. I just wish that there was more communication.”

Both Edmonson and Boldt also commented about the fact that Early is just the latest victim of suicide in the local community, with two other young people also losing their lives in recent months.

When asked what he would like to see happen moving forward, Edmonson said, “What I would love to see is more attention being paid to bullying in schools. There should be punishment for bullying, instead of just saying that something will be done, but then nothing ever does.”

Edmonson described his brother as a “shy” kid who didn’t talk a lot, but he apparently did speak on occasion about the fact that he was being bullied.

“I knew he was being bullied, because he would mention it,” Edmonson said. “But he didn’t really go in-depth about what was really going on inside his head. I think bullying was something that pushed him off the edge, though. “

Edmonson added that his brother had apparently been called “gay” due to the fact that he had ear piercings, which is something that, according to Edmonson, “messed with him a lot.”

“He was a teenager,” Edmonson said of his brother. “He liked video games, liked playing Fortnite, and liked rap music. He was a sweet kid. He had a big heart, and he cared about people. He was real compassionate, and just comfortable to be around. He was a good person to just talk to.”

When asked to comment on the situation, Superintendent Siler offered assurance that the school district does have trained personnel in place to help students deal with various issues, like thoughts of suicide.

“The safety of our students is of utmost importance,” said Siler. “We want to make sure that they know if they do have concerns, or if they are dealing with a crisis situation, they can go to our teachers, our counselors, or our principals for help.”

“We want to communicate to both the kids and their parents to open up about their struggles,” Siler added. “There are resources there in our schools to help.”

Siler confirmed that a meeting had taken place Wednesday morning at Whitley County Middle School between school administrators and representatives from local community health agencies. In this meeting, discussions took place about how to most effectively go about setting up a program that can provide additional support to students who may be dealing with a variety of issues, including mental health.

Siler could not go into any details at this time on exactly what the program would look like, or how it would be implemented in the school district, but he did say that those details would be forthcoming in the near future.