On October 2, 2008, 16-year-old Sladjana Vidovic was found by her sister. Vidovic was dead, having committed suicide by hanging herself out of her bedroom window.
In her suicide note, the Bosnian native said that she was constantly bullied at school.
A lawsuit recently filed by her family claims that officials at Mentor Schools ignored repeated warnings and complaints about the bullying that led the teen to take her own life.
According to the AP:
The lawsuit says Sladjana Vidovic was verbally harassed and on one occasion was pushed down a set of stairs at Mentor High School, about 20 miles northeast of Cleveland.
The family’s attorney, Kenneth Myers, says Vidovic, whose parents are from Croatia, was teased about her heritage and accent. He said Vidovic became depressed over the bullying and hanged herself from her bedroom window on Oct. 2, 2008.
This article appears in Aug 18-24, 2010.
Bullied because of Croatian heritage?? Now I have head it all. I am Croatian and never knew there was something wrong with my heritage. In fact I see it as my asset.
people we as parents must put a stop on our own kids with this bulling thing that goes on school and other places we are the first line in there life why blame the school and I’m not saying they are at any fault but wait until a life is taken by there own hands this young girl had a future but now it’s gone forever and we still have our own kids we want to see them grow go on to college get married and have kids of there own, I say ” NO” no more pointing fingers at others while it’s our duty to be there to teach what’s right and wrong.
I hope you agreed to my comment!!!!
They took God, and all of His morals (Love your neighbor as yourself.) out of the public schools and they took the ability to disciplince away from the teachers. What are the teachers supposed to do with these kids? I have known some teachers who have been really frustrated with the sense of entitlement the kids today have (powerful self-esteem education – aka – you matter more than anyone else). It’s a shame, and I have seen it with my own son, and the school says that there is nothing they can do.
Like Phoebe Prince from South Hadley, Massachusetts, Sladjana Vidovic was unique! She probably was not comforming, and didn’t fit the mold of the highly acceptable “Lil” Kim, or Britney Spears wanna be’s. She more than likely was more educated than her comperable classmates as was Phoebe, and she was simply probably not a rebel, was a good family girl, and not as slutty as her tormentors. This school is the second tragedy, and the NEA and the administrators should be on trial right beside the tormentors. This is as classless as it gets! God rest this young angel!
I was bullied, tortured, humiliated and the like my entire junior and senior high school life. Unable to handle the situation I ran away from home. My family caught me and brought me back and managed to help me come to terms with my life, but it was only through the grace of God that I survived it all.
The people who tormented me continued to do so through graduation. Chosen to give the senior speech, those who had tormented me made sure they got their last digs in as I walked up to give the speech. 10 and 20 years later, people from this school actually had the nerve to invite me to the class reunions. I burned the invitiations and spit on the ashes.
On the rare occasions I speak to those I was friends with at that time, they’re always shocked to hear how much I hated that school and most of those in it. Of course these folks weren’t spit on, followed around, teased, harassed and abused.
God bless the family of this poor girl and all those who suffered with her. God bless all the young people in this country who suffer this way. May God give them strength and courage to rise above it and live the best lives they can to spite those who work so hard to bring them down.
Most of all, may these young people find peace in the afterlife and a chance to be happy. God will give them the happiness that was stolen from them in life. May God give their families peace and comfort and may their stories save other lives.
There are always a handful of people who are threaten by anyone who doesn’t fit the average “norm” profile. This young lady was obviously beautiful, had a love for life and interesting culture. Apparently she was perceived as a threat to these bullies. They were so fearful that bringing her down made them feel artificially elevated. Very strange group of bullies…how can they sleep at night?
They can sleep, because they are not in jail, where they should be.
Doesn’t anybody learn anything from the Klebold’s and Harris’s of this world. You don’t think we are going to have another Columbine? Why do you think kids come to school with guns, not because they want to bully, but because they are victims.
This is another pathetic reminder of why I live in California.
I cant stand these naive, closed minded middle american a-holes!
I will bet you alot of the bullying was from girls too….LOSERS who were probably jealous little fat Americans.
Pull your heads out of your asses Mentor High School, you act like white trash losers.
Come to Cali aor New York and try that bullying shit.
I’m sure her obvious beauty was an additional source of jealousy among the girls. Her shyness would have been a factor, along with her probable conservative moral leanings. In reading other reports about her I think I would have admired her.
LOL – they picked up the bullying tricks and “shit” from the low life scum that perfected it in NY and Kali schools.
Schools everywhere, from Cleveland to Anaheim, need to accept responsibility for the things that go on in their hallways and classrooms. This PC BS and the inability of school districts to actually educate those in their care needs to end with teachers, administrators and politicians being reminded as to their jobs and responsibilities.
I don’t know why people are acting shocked at the fact that some students suicide to escape bullies in high school. Sometimes suicide seems like the only escape.
But if you want to find the true cause of these problems, you need to go right to the source. The Board of Education.
That’s right, the ruling body that is supposed to be teaching our kids are giving them the wrong message.
From the time a student enters high school, they know there is royalty. In high school the royalty is THE POPULARS. Because The Board of Education encourages competition between schools, each school recruits students to fill out the teams. And of course each school has their own cheerleading squad. These 2 to 5 % become the school’s elites. They get special privileges. They are graded easier. They are forgiven disrupting classes. They get let out early to practice and when there is a conflict because an elite is bullying another student, the teachers usually side with The Populars. Before Christmas of a new students first year, they know the score. The school sides with their prize winners over normal students. The teachers even pressure the normal students to attend games. Of course this has a lot to due with ticket sales, but, it enforces the message these few students are special.
The Populars rule the school with the teachers backing them up. If you really wanted to end a lot of the bullying in schools, get rid of the inter-school competitions. So long as there’s a trophy or plaque for a school to win to prove they are better then the other schools, they will continue to treat the elites as better then the rest.
Teachers more then anyone else are the major cause of bullying in our schools. So long as teachers raise a few students up and allow them to do whatever thay want without punishment, bullying will always be a part of our schools. Most people who have gone through high school have seen this kind of thing for themselves and for those who don’t remember this right away, think back. Remember the popular crowd. Picture who was in it. Who was in that group? The jocks and cheerleaders? And think how the teachers treated these kids. Is a few trophys worth some kids life?
She was an incredible person. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about her. I was new and very shy when I transferred into the Mentor Schools in ninth grade, but Sladjana helped me to change that. She reached out to me and was my friend. I sat with her at lunch and study hall and we were lab partners in science. Her locker was also by mine and I walked with her in between almost every class. She changed my life in ninth grade and was such a fun person to be around. Sladjana’s bubbly personality will never be forgotten.
Thank you Cara Salveter. It is nice to hear the kind words you shared about Sladjana. It is sad to think that we believe, by pointing the finger at others somehow it will change what has happened to Sladjana. I believe we have to concentrate on giving all our children, friends, neighbours, society as a whole, something positive to focus on. I’m not referring to a spectacular career in sports or the the importance we put on being financially wealthy, but the greatest rewards we will receive comes from giving of ourselves, teaching what is to respect ourselves and that we are truly all equals no matter where come from. It is an inside job (heart and soul). Thank you for all you have given Sladjana you have opened my heart and eyes, for that I am forever grateful. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Vidovic family.
I went to Mentor high, I was a senior and I even met her…she was not nice to me and it was my first impression, first time meeting her, ever. The Croatia natives at Mentor acted like they ruled the school. There’s 3,000 students in Mentor, give or take, they can’t control them all. I’m not being insensitive, I just think this has been blown out of proportion and facts aren’t in order for the most part. The parents knew she was having a depression problem, which they could have addressed it. I read an article stating that they took a knife from her. Someone in that state of mind should not have been left alone. This is not just the schools fault. I knew or was acquainted with every one of those kids who committed suicide. RIP To all of them.
Sladjana….i miss you! You we’re a good friend to me when I was 8 years old. You we’re like a sister to me. I can’t believe your gone 🙁 but you won’t be forgotten! This bullying needs to stop. I’m in middle school, 8th grade, going into high school, and I’m afraid something like that will happen to me. Nothing was your fault! I love you & miss you very much!! :'(
-Kristina Kozina
Laur, you’re nothing but a coward and a bigot. Good to know that Sladjana totally deserved what she got because she didn’t ‘seem nice’ to you. Congratulations on being low-life trash! You can celebrate your lack of humanity with the rest of the filth from that school. What goes around comes around and I can’t wait till karma slaps all the scum from that place silly.