Well, this is just heartbreaking.
A Queensland schoolgirl felt compelled to create a Change.org petition (with the help of her Mum) asking for community support to demand her high school takes a stronger stance against the bullies she says torment her on a daily basis.
Dysart State High School student Tayla Sekhmet, who is almost 13, called the petition “School bullying is killing me, PLEASE, PLEASE HELP”, which kicks us square in the guts tbh.
“I’m the most unpopular kid at school and people make my life a living hell,” she writes. “Every day people call me fatso, weirdo, ugly, freak, and tell me I should kill myself.”“I’ve been pushed to the ground, had people go through my bag, or break my scooter when I rode it to school. Even people in other grades who I don’t know do these things to me too.”
Tayla even claims that one boy “continues to sexual harrass me” yet, despite apparently broaching the bullying with the school, hasn’t been offered sufficient support.
“I have told my teachers many times, my mum has called the school, and I have had school meetings. None of this is helping, I’ve been told to just ignore these people, but I can’t take it anymore.”
The petition has received a huggggggeeeeee outpouring of support, smashing past its goal of 30,000 signatories overnight – it’s now well on its way to 50,000 (it was at 40,000 at the time of writing), while Change.org’s comms director Gary Nunn tweeted the petition is one of the “most powerful” he’d seen.
Tayla’s plan is to deliver the petition to the school and Queensland education minister Kate Jones in the hope it prompts stronger action against schoolyard bullies.
Her mum Kali recently updated the petition with a note to thank everyone for their overwhelming support of her daughter’s plea.
“Yesterday, when Tayla was reading through all the comments you all have written, she cried. She couldn’t believe that so many people could care about -in her words- ‘a insignificant freak like me’,” she says. “Tayla says she is going to print out every comment made on her petition and fill her entire wall with them. She reads every one. And she is especially sad to see that so many others are experiencing the same bullying.“I know that you are all random strangers on the internet and we will never meet, but thank you from the bottom of my heart for signing this petition, because you have changed my daughter’s life forever.”
OH GOD BRING IT IN.
PEDESTRIAN.TV reached out to Dysart State High School but it declined to comment.
You can support Kayla’s petition by chucking it your signature HERE. We already have. <3
Photo: Kali Sekhmet.
If you’re having a tough time and feel like you need to have a chat to someone, reach out to the friendly folks at Headspace.org.au: in person, via online chat, or by calling them on 1800 650 890.
