The Rockford School District community is responding to a tragedy. An 11-year-old student at Eisenhower Middle School, Jalyah Noel Thompson, has died. Her family said she died by suicide because of bullying at her school.
Ehren Jarrett is the superintendent at Rockford Public Schools.
“This is a wakeup call for families," he said. "This is a wakeup call for community partners, and it's a wakeup call for the school district when we lose a child at this early age, and we have to be convicted and committed to doing more."
Jarrett says the district can’t say if Jalyah had accessed mental health services or reported incidents of bullying or harassment. But he says they’re investigating what happened.
The superintendent says the district has invested tens of millions of dollars for additional mental health support, but that clearly they need to do more. He says they need to build more trust so students feel comfortable bringing information forward to support staff.
He says staff will be checking in on students at Eisenhower and other schools for the foreseeable future.
Jalyah’s family says she loved Hello Kitty, the color pink, and dreamed of becoming a nail technician.
Her family has started several GoFundMe pages to raise money for funeral and memorial expenses.
