The apparent suicide of an Ocean City High School senior on Sunday triggered a wave of grief throughout the school community and a planned protest for Wednesday evening’s Board of Education meeting.
Casey Rosamond, a 2014 OCHS graduate, is encouraging students to wear pink to the meeting and to submit anonymous stories of depression or attempted suicide to be read during the meeting.
Rosamond said on Tuesday she is an acquaintance of the deceased student and that she feels bullying was at least one contributing factor to the student’s decision.
“This is a page made in protest to how OCHS handles bullying, suicide and mental health,” Rosamond wrote in creating the OCHS Make the Change community on Facebook.
(Out of respect to the privacy of families, OCNJ Daily does not report on suicides or name victims.)
Rosamond said she, like many other students, experienced bullying at Ocean City High School. She said many students have problems at home, but those issues should not be compounded by a hostile environment at school or through social media.
The school’s policy on harassment, intimidation and bullying might involve sending bullies home, placing them in detention, or sometimes getting police involved, Rosamond said.
“I want there to be more education,” she said.
She said she hopes to encourage a policy that creates “more empathy and compassion” through education of alleged bullies.
Ocean City’s existing policy does outline “positive behavioral interventions” as well as a number of other remedial measures as consequences for bullying.
She said she has already received several anonymous stories from OCHS students, and she hopes to use them to illustrate to the school board the scope of the problem.
“I’m not trying to point any fingers,” she said. “I just want the community to come together.”
In a letter emailed to Ocean City school families on Monday, Ocean City Schools Superintendent Kathleen Taylor wrote in part:
“Please know that our Crisis Response Team, comprised of professionals who are trained to help, are counseling any student in need as well as supporting our staff and families during this very difficult time. These teams will be in our schools over the next few days to assist our schools and school community to cope with this sudden and tragic loss. Our counselors will also provide information as to what parents can do to help their children.
In addition, we have provided resource information on the school district website for parents and students dealing with grief.” (See those resources.)
