Family of Bart Palosz sues Greenwich, public schools for failing to protect him from bullying 
 
 Almost two years after 15-year-old Bart Palosz committed suicide on the first day of his sophomore year at Greenwich High School, a lawsuit brought against the town sheds new light on the case and again raises the question of whether the school district should share the blame in the teenager’s decision to take his life. 
 
 The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by Bart’s parents, Anna Izabela Palosz and Franciszek Palosz, claims school staff were well aware of bullying he endured at school for years, yet did not follow mandatory anti-bullying policies, a failure they claim contributed to their son’s death. 
 
 School documents that indicate what officials did know about Bart’s history, undisclosed until now, have been revealed in filings in state Superior Court in Stamford. They include a record of Bart in the district’s “sharings” program, which details important information for Greenwich High staff about incoming ninth-graders. 
 
 “The middle school sharings document is a smoking gun,” said David Golub, the attorney representing the Paloszes. “It shows that the school system knew, but ignored” the Board of Education’s anti-bullying procedures. 
 
 Bart is described in the sharings document as a “very socially awkward” student who was bullied regularly during his years at Western Middle School but did not tell anyone about it. The teenager was “annoying” to his peers and would stare at them, but he wanted to be liked and needed to be connected, the document states. 
 
 “Social work needed” was written on the form. It was a recommendation that was never acted upon, according to the lawsuit. 
 
 School records show that the bullying of Bart included name-calling and teasing, repeated incidents of property theft and hitting and kicking from classmates, according to the lawsuit. 
 
 Bart was hit in the head with a locker — an injury that required stitches — and had his shoelaces tied together, according to the sharings document. 
 
 “I wanted to make you aware that Bart was pretty severely bullied in middle school,” his guidance counselor wrote in a November 2012 email to Bart’s classroom teachers when he was in ninth grade, another new revelation contained in the lawsuit. “He would not report any of the incidents to the school, so the only way it was brought to light was if it was observed or if he told at home.” 
 
 Superintendent of Schools William McKersie and Greenwich High Headmaster Chris Winters declined to comment on the lawsuit. They referred inquiries to Town Attorney John Wayne Fox, who was not available for comment Wednesday. 
 
 First Selectman Peter Tesei did not return a message left for him by press time. Board of Education members either did not return messages or declined to comment. 
 
 Lawyers for the Paloszes and the town tried for many months to negotiate a settlement, but they could not come to terms, according to Golub. The lawsuit had to be filed before a two-year statute of limitation from the date of Bart’s death went into effect on Aug. 27. 
 
 “We feel this lawsuit is important so that other students in Greenwich don’t suffer the same kind of treatment that Bart did,” the Palosz family said in a statement. “It is our hope that this lawsuit will result in changes to how the Greenwich school system responds to students in need of help so that there will be no more needless deaths.” 
 
 The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages in excess of $15,000, the threshold for filing in the court. The complaint marks the first legal action brought against the district and town related to Bart’s death. 
 
 School and municipal officials have until Sept. 8 to respond. 
 
 History of bullying 
 
 Reports of bullying became widespread in the immediate aftermath of Bart’s death, a tragedy that shocked the Greenwich community. 
 
 “I knew it was a matter of time, but it's very painful to relive what happened to Bart,” Lori Keegan, a friend of the Paloszes, said in an email Wednesday. “Bart was an easy target; he didn’t fight back. He was quiet and shy. I think about him every day.” 
 
 Family and friends have said Bart was picked on for a number of reasons, including his socially awkward demeanor, his tall and heavy-set frame, his acne and his Polish accent. His family immigrated to the U.S. from Poland when he was four years old. 
 
 Bart’s troubles were known to Western administrators, including two assistant principals, according to the lawsuit. In a May 2012 meeting with then-Assistant Principal Albert Sackey, an eighth-grade Bart reportedly admitted to several instances of being physically and verbally abused. 
 
 But Palosz’s treatment by his peers apparently did not improve at Greenwich High, which Bart began attending in the fall of 2012. Less than two months into his freshman year, a classmate in a biology class smashed his new Android smartphone, according to the lawsuit. Shortly after Bart died, his sister, Beata, recalled the same incident. 
 
 By the spring of his freshman year, Bart was showing major signs of his distress, the lawsuit said. His grades dropped off precipitously, he decided to stop turning in his homework and he was biting his hands in class. 
 
 While he was reluctant to share his ordeals with others face-to-face, Bart did open up on the social network Google+. There, he posted plans to harm himself due to "school caused insanity." 
 
 "I have chosen to go with 3 peoples (sic) advice and kill myself," he wrote in June 2013, adding that he had just swallowed pills. "I just wish it was faster." 
 
 He would survive that episode and show up for the first day of classes to start his sophomore year, on Aug. 27, 2013. It would be his first and only day at Greenwich High without Beata, who had graduated the previous June. She was a crucial source of company and protection from his antagonists. 
 
 After school that day, Bart returned to an empty home. He grabbed the key to a gun safe in his bedroom where his father kept his hunting rifles. With one of those weapons, he ended his life by shooting himself in the head. 
 
 Culpability 
 
 The lawsuit charges that teachers, administrators and counselors were negligent because they failed in a number of ways to meet the district’s anti-bullying policies and procedures. Their failure comprised a “substantial factor” in Bart’s decision to take his own life, the complaint claims. 
 
 They did not, according to the lawsuit, properly carry out the following required actions: 
 
 Reporting and investigating bullying of Bart. 
 
 Taking the steps prescribed on the middle school “sharings” form. 
 
 Notifying and meeting with Bart’s parents and the parents of students who bullied Bart. 
 
 Disciplining the students who bullied Bart. 
 
 Developing student safety support and intervention plans in response to the bullying of Bart. 
 
 “Had defendants’ personnel complied with the mandatory provisions of the policy, as required, Bart would have received counseling, including appropriate encouragement to advocate on his own behalf (which school personnel universally recognized Bart could not do,” the lawsuit states. “Bart also would have been protected from his tormentors and would have been to feel less tormented.” 
 
 While school and municipal officials have acknowledged that Palosz was bullied, they have argued that educators cared about him and did their best to help him. 
 
 “We knew Bart very well,” McKersie said at Board of Selectmen meeting a couple of weeks after Bart died. “I remember his dad, I remember his mom, I remember his sister... This is a case of a young man who took his life who we knew well.” 
 
 But school officials have declined to specify the support that Bart received. Citing privacy laws, they have opposed Freedom of Information requests for access to Bart’s school records. 
 
 The district launched an investigation immediately after Bart’s death but handed it over less than two weeks later to the town’s legal department. 
 
 In April 2014, Fox, the town attorney, reported on the findings of a draft report, but the document has never been made public. 
 
 “It is clear from our investigation that this young man was subjected to acts by students or groups of students directed against him with what I would define and describe as an intent to ridicule, humiliate or to intimidate him,” Fox said at a Board of Education meeting. 
 
 “It was also clear to me and to our findings that the school system was aware of those difficulties that Bart was having, was attentive to them and set up procedures and programs in an attempt to address them. There will always be a question and debate as to whether enough was done or if some things could have been done better.” 
 
 Other town officials took a more emphatic position. 
 
 “We as a community failed this child,” Selectman Drew Marzullo said in February 2014. 
 
 “We tried very hard to resolve this matter with the town without the need for a lawsuit, but unfortunately were unable to do so,” Golub said. “It’s a shame that the town, while admitting that it ‘failed this child,’ won’t actually take responsibility for what happened here.” 
 
 Golub said the town decided against settling, but he declined to specify the reason. 
 
 pschott@scni.com; 203-625-4439; twitter: @paulschott ||||| Bart Palosz, 15, committed suicide in August 2013 after the first day of his sophomore year at Greenwich High School. 
 
 The family of a 15-year-old Connecticut high school student who shot himself in the head is suing the town and its board of education, alleging school officials knew their son was relentlessly bullied for years and failed to protect him. 
 
 Wealthy Connecticut Couple Vanishes After $2.2M Debt Ruling 
 
 The family of Bartlomeij "Bart" Palosz is suing Greenwich and the town's school district for $15,000 in damages, nearly two years after the 15-year-old committed suicide after the first day of his sophomore year at Greenwich High School, the first day his recently-graduated older sister wasn't there to look after him. 
 
 Toddler Dies After Being Left in 200-Degree Car 
 
 The complaint alleges Palosz was "subjected to a years-long history of unremitting bullying" at Western Middle School and Greenwich High School. The last time he was bullied was the day he died, according to the complaint. 
 
 Teens Cheated Out of $100K in Promised Wages at Summer Jobs 
 
 Bart faced years of name-calling, teasing and physical violence that left him injured on at least one occasion, according to the complaint. He was kicked and hit on the back of the neck. Classmates stole his pencil and threw it at him and smashed his brand new smartphone, court documents allege. 
 
 Harvard Student Loses Facebook Internship for App 
 
 "Everyone treats him bad because he pushes people's buttons," Western Middle School Assistant Principal Albert Sackey wrote in a report after Palosz was kicked at his locker in 2012, according to the complaint. "Everyone is mean to him." 
 
 Man, 19, Arrested on Two DWI Charges in 10 Hours 
 
 Palosz's performance in class suffered drastically. He stopped turning in his homework and his grades plummeted in the spring of 2013, the complaint alleges. He also began biting his hands in an effort to cope with stress and anxiety. 
 
 Top News Photos of the Week 
 
 All the while, school administrators, teachers and counselors left Palosz "unprotected and unsupported"despite their knowledge of the bullying he endured, according to the complaint. 
 
 $15M Stolen Picasso Found in NJ to Be Returned to Paris 
 
 "Kids pick on him, very socially akward (sic), bullied regularly, annoying to peers," a middle school employee wrote during Bart's transition to the high school. "Bart gets bullied on a regular basis but he doesn’t tell anyone, needs to be connected, wants to be liked." 
 
 Amoeba Kills Swimmer in Oklahoma Lake 
 
 Another wrote: "Shoelaces tied together – Stitches in head – hit w/ locker. He won’t tell on kids. No self advocacy. Very tall and awakward (sic), will stare at other kids. Wants to be liked." 
 
 Connecticut Supreme Court Overturns Death Penalty > 
 
 The complaint claims Greenwich High School "failed to comply" with its anti-bullying policy, which requires staff members to provide victims with emotional support, intervene in and investigate known cases of bullying, file oral and written reports on bullying instances, contact the parents of bullying victims and discipline bullies. 
 
 'I'm Alive': Stranded 19-Year-Old Spends Night Clinging to Buoy 
 
 The lawsuit cites Greenwich First Selectman Drew Marzullo as saying, "We as a community failed this child." 
 
 According to family attorney Randy Savicky of Silver Golub & Teitell LLP, the town is required to respond by Sept. 8. 
 
 "We feel this lawsuit is important so that other students in Greenwich don’t suffer the same kind of treatment that Bart did. It is our hope that this lawsuit will result in changes to how the Greenwich school system responds to students in need of help so that there will be no more needless deaths," the family said in a statement Wednesday. 
 
 Rihanna Is Joining 'The Voice' 
 
 NBC Connecticut has reached out to Greenwich Town Attorney John Wayne Fox for comment on the lawsuit. 
 
 SUICIDE PREVENTION: The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800-273-8255) is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 
 
 Greenwich Student Commits Suicide A 15-year-old Greenwich High School sophomore committed suicide hours after classes started. (Published Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015) ||||| A grand piano stands silently in a tatami room at Naoko Nakashima’s home in Toride, Ibaraki Prefecture. It has not been played in almost two years. 
 
 Nakashima’s grandmother gave the piano to her when she was 5 years old and she practiced every day in a bid to become a professional pianist. 
 
 But in November 2015, just before she was supposed to start a high school specializing in music, Nakashima took her own life. She was 15 years old. 
 
 In the wake of Nakashima’s death, her parents, Junko and Takanobu, found pieces of evidence that led them to believe their only child had been a victim of bullying at school. 
 
 They found a small memo in the pocket of Nakashima’s school uniform that contained a solitary word — “kusaya,” which is a dried horse mackerel known for its strong smell. 
 
 Nakashima had also scribbled notes in her diary — another present from her grandmother — that said such things as “I don’t want to be bullied” and “I don’t want to be alone.” 
 
 Meanwhile, Nakashima’s supposed friends had also written messages in a scrapbook that was given to her parents on the day of what would have been her junior high school graduation that said such things as “I don’t like you,” “You are annoying” and “You are s—-.” 
 
 In March 2016, however, the Toride Board of Education ruled that Nakashima’s death was unrelated to bullying. It took another year before the same body reversed its original ruling, officially recognizing in May earlier this year that bullying had in fact been a factor in Nakashima’s death. 
 
 “It’s outrageous,” Takanobu Nakashima says. “The board of education clearly didn’t want to recognize that bullying was involved or that the teacher failed to take appropriate action. Meanwhile, precious lives are being lost.” 
 
 Sobering statistics 
 
 Sept. 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day. According to the World Health Organization, about 800,000 people worldwide take their own lives every year — the equivalent of one death every 40 seconds. Up to 25 times as many people around the globe each year attempt suicide. 
 
 Japan has the highest suicide rate among the Group of Seven member states, according to World Health Organization data. The suicide rate in Japan in 2015 stood at 15.4 per 100,000 people. By comparison, the suicide rate in the United States, which had the second-highest ratio, stood at 12.6 per 100,000 people. 
 
 It’s worth noting that Japan has actually recorded a significant drop in the number of deaths by suicide in recent years, peaking at 34,427 deaths in 2003 before declining to 21,897 in 2016. 
 
 However, the number of children aged 19 and under who take their own lives each year has remained static over the past couple of decades, with authorities registering around 400 to 500 deaths per annum. 
 
 Koju Matsubayashi, head of the student guidance policy section of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, stresses the importance of taking comprehensive action to prevent children from taking their own lives. 
 
 “Children commit suicide for a number of reasons that are often intertwined in a complex manner over issues related to school, home and so on,” Matsubayashi says. “It’s important for schools to notice what is troubling students.” 
 
 In July, the government approved a plan that aims to cut the country’s suicide rate by 30 percent by 2026. The new guidelines emphasize the importance of implementing measures to prevent suicide among children and young people, promoting education about the ways in which children can seek help, and helping peers and adults recognize warning signs. 
 
 Matsubayashi says the government wants all 27,500 elementary and junior high schools nationwide to employ a school counsellor by 2019. It also plans to double the number of school social workers from the current 5,000 in the same time frame. Furthermore, the government wants to create a new online platform in addition to the 24-hour telephone service it currently operates for children to contact about their problems. 
 
 “We’d love to eliminate such tragedies altogether, but the reality is several hundred children are taking their lives (each year),” Matsubayashi says. “It’s important to teach children how to get help as soon as possible … because it becomes harder and harder to find help once they’re already suffering. The light at the end of the tunnel gets darker and darker until they begin to start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as death.” 
 
 Data compiled by the National Police Agency shows that 320 elementary, junior high and high school students killed themselves in 2016. Of this figure, 116 are believed to have killed themselves over an issue relating to school (including 34 over bad grades and six as a result of bullying), 75 are believed to have taken their own lives over an issue relating to family and 25 over relationship problems. 
 
 Yoshitomo Takahashi, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Tsukuba and an expert on suicide issues, says the measures that are currently in place to prevent children and teenagers from committing suicide are “totally insufficient,” adding that too much emphasis is placed on bullying. 
 
 “The media is partly to blame for this because the coverage makes it seem like youth suicide is primarily caused by bullying,” Takahashi says. “However, that is only part of the reason. Children take their own lives for various reasons, including individual mental health problems, financial issues and even domestic abuse and neglect.” 
 
 The World Health Organization has compiled a list of guidelines for media regarding news reports on suicide, recommending that publications refrain from describing the method of suicide and avoid sensationalizing the deaths. Such guidelines could arguably apply to the entertainment industry as well, although television producers and musicians still flirt with the issue from time to time. 
 
 Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why,” a drama about a bullied teenage girl named Hannah Baker who commits suicide after recording 13 tapes for the people she blamed for wanting to end her own life, sparked controversy earlier this year. Despite the vivid depiction of Baker’s death, some argued that the drama glorified suicide, and several deaths in the United States and Peru have since been linked to the show. 
 
 Meanwhile, Takahashi says Japanese publishers have improved the way that they have covered suicide in recent years. However, he adds, the media in Japan do tend to focus extensively on bullying. 
 
 “High-risk children will identify themselves with such suicide reports,” Takahashi says. “There is no way that they can remain unaffected.” 
 
 Media attention 
 
 In 2015, a white paper on suicide prevention reported that the number of suicides among those aged 18 or younger has spiked around Sept. 1 in every year of the past 42 years since 1972. Sept. 1 coincides with the end of the summer vacation. 
 
 The report has led domestic media to initiate something of a “Sept. 1 suicide watch” over the past two years. A number of news organizations took up the issue in the week leading up to Sept. 1 and celebrities such as TV personality Shoko Nakagawa implored teenagers via Twitter on Aug. 31 not to take their own lives. 
 
 “I don’t understand why (the media) doesn’t see that the more they cover the Sept. 1 issue, the bigger the problem will become,” Takahashi says. “Just because they’re covering it with good intentions doesn’t make it alright.” 
 
 According to the Mainichi Shimbun, three cases of suspected teen suicide were reported this year between Aug. 30 and Sept. 1. 
 
 Although bullying is just one factor among many in youth suicide, it’s hard to ignore its wider impact on teenagers in Japan. 
 
 According to the education ministry, a record high 224,540 cases of bullying were reported in 2015. The same survey, however, also found that almost 40 percent of schools nationwide denied that any bullying had occurred in their institutions, a statistic that is equally alarming — both education experts and government officials agree that it is almost impossible to eradicate bullying completely. 
 
 Indeed, education official Matsubayashi says the government actually scrutinizes municipalities that submit low numbers of reported bullying cases, calling on teachers to identify cases of bullying and making sure that these cases are resolved systematically. 
 
 The government passed an anti-bullying law in 2013 after the suicide of a bullied 13-year-old boy in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, in 2011 that made headlines due to the apparent negligence of the school and local board of education. The law requires schools and local governments to report “serious cases” of bullying that have led to significant physical or mental damage, including suicide. 
 
 Naoki Ogi has a 44-year career in education, including 22 years as a junior and senior high school teacher, and is currently a professor at Hosei University as well as the head of a clinical education research center called Niji (Rainbow). | COURTESY OF NAOKI OGI 
 
 However, education expert Naoki Ogi, better known as “Ogi Mama” as a result of his warm and caring character, does not hide his anger toward the schools and boards of education that continue to cover up bullying cases, including Nakashima’s suicide in Toride. 
 
 In a recent phone interview with The Japan Times, Ogi says at least 33 children have taken their lives due to bullying since the law was enacted. 
 
 “These children die in so much pain, leaving behind notes or messages on their smartphones,” Ogi says. “However, schools and boards of education continue to ignore these children in spite of the law. While a number of children have taken their own lives, many more are still suffering from bullying.” 
 
 Ogi has a 44-year career in education, including 22 years as a junior and senior high school teacher, and is currently a professor at Hosei University as well as the head of a clinical education research center called Niji (Rainbow). He has written more than 200 books and often appears on television as a commentator and holds lectures nationwide on education and child-rearing issues. 
 
 Last month, he worked with the nonprofit Gentle Heart Project at an anti-bullying event and delivered a heartwarming written message to children contemplating suicide, reminding them of how precious their lives are. 
 
 “These children are so broken when they die,” Ogi says. “They’re completely weak, exhausted and have lost all sense of judgment. If we don’t act fast, more and more children will also fall victim. The fact that we have children taking their own lives because of bullying suggests that the system is failing them.” 
 
 Shinichiro and Midori Komori, founders of Gentle Heart Project, say that little has changed in the almost two decades since they lost their only daughter, Kasumi, to suicide after she experienced bullying at school. 
 
 Founded in 2002, the NPO’s name comes from one of the last things their daughter, who was 15 at the time, said before she took her own life: “The most important thing in life is to have a gentle heart.” 
 
 “I feel that people don’t really grasp the seriousness of bullying,” Midori Komori says. “However, bullying is a form of abuse that is inflicted on a child by another. Bullying is physical or psychological abuse, just as ignoring someone is the same as neglect.” 
 
 Shinichiro and Midori Komori lost their daughter, Kasumi, in 1998. | MASAMI ITO 
 
 Kasumi took her own life in 1998, just 3½ months after she started high school. She had told her parents that she was having problems at school with a few of the students and Midori Komori says she visited the school 12 times to discuss the issue. Seeing her daughter suffering in obvious pain, Komori even sought psychiatric help for her daughter. 
 
 After her death, however, the school denied that any bullying had occurred on the school grounds. As a result, the couple decided to look into her death themselves. 
 
 They sent letters to Kasumi’s former classmates and parents, asking for their cooperation in finding out the truth behind Kasumi’s death. But only a few responded, apologizing for not being able to help their daughter. Some parents sent back the letter unopened, while others even included messages asking the couple to leave them alone. To mark the memorial service 49 days after Kasumi’s death, the Komoris invited her ex-classmates over for an informal gathering. They prepared a variety of food and then waited for their guests to arrive. No one showed up. 
 
 The Komoris eventually became isolated in their own community. 
 
 Shinichiro Komori says there is no support for parents who have lost their children due to bullying because their allegations are, in most cases, not considered to be a crime. 
 
 “All we wanted was to know the truth, but the school didn’t want us to uncover the truth because it would show that it did nothing to prevent her death,” he says. “Saving face should be worth nothing compared to the life that was lost.” 
 
 Looking after those left behind 
 
 Most people struggle to deal with the death of a relative, but Takahashi says that suicide strikes families particularly hard and encourages people to seek professional help. 
 
 “Suicide is different in the sense that it often leaves bereaved family and friends in an extreme state,” Takahashi says. “They are left with a sense of sadness but they also have questions about the triggers and sometimes even direct their anger toward the deceased. That’s why it is extremely important to take care of the people left behind.” 
 
 As far as Junko and Takanobu Nakashima are concerned, their grief is far from over. Like the Komoris, they decided to look into their daughter’s death themselves, talking to her former classmates and gathering information. 
 
 In March 2016, four months after Naoko’s death, the Toride Board of Education ruled that her suicide was not caused by bullying. It did, however, establish an independent committee to investigate the case. 
 
 By that stage, however, the Nakashimas had lost trust in the Toride Board of Education and the committee. On May 29, the Nakashimas demanded that the committee be disbanded. The following day, the Toride Board of Education overturned its original conclusion that Naoko’s death was not related to bullying. 
 
 In June, the independent committee was disbanded. Last month, then-Ibaraki Gov. Masaru Hashimoto met with the Nakashimas and promised that the prefecture would take over the investigation — a move that both government officials and experts agree is unheard of. 
 
 And while the Nakashimas have been able to move forward a little, they are still caught in the middle of an investigation almost two years after her death. 
 
 “So much time has passed and we can’t turn back the clock,” Junko Nakashima says. “It is about time for everyone to own up to the truth. Please don’t hurt our daughter any more.” 
 
 Where to get help 
 
 • 24-hour Child SOS Dial: 0120-078310; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; 24 hours 
 
 • Child Line: 0120-997777; www.childline.or.jp; Monday through Saturday 4-9 p.m., open Sunday in some areas, including Tokyo, Aichi, Hiroshima and Okinawa 
 
 • Inochi no Denwa: 0570-783-556; www.inochinodenwa.org; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. every day; free every 10th of the month at 0120-783-556, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. 
 
 • TELL Japan (English only): 03-5774-0992; telljp.com; 9 a.m.-11 p.m. daily; chat service available for 13-year-olds and above, every Saturday 10:30 p.m.-Sunday 9 a.m.
– The parents of a 15-year-old who killed himself in 2013 after years of "unremitting bullying" have sued their Connecticut town and its board of education, accusing them of ignoring the problem and their own anti-bullying policy, NBC New York reports. According to the Greenwich Time, Bartlomeij "Bart" Palosz shot himself with his father's hunting rifle after his first day as a sophomore following a failed attempt to kill himself with pills a few months earlier. Bart's parents are seeking an unspecified amount greater than $15,000 in their lawsuit. The family's lawyer tells the Time that recently revealed documents compiled on Bart by his middle school and shared with his high school are a "smoking gun." In these documents, staffers are quoted as saying "everyone" was mean to Bart because he "pushes people's buttons" and that he wanted to be liked but was "very socially awkward" and "annoying to peers," according to NBC. The Time reports the documents show incidents of verbal and physical bullying—one resulted in stitches—and include the phrase "social work needed." The lawsuit claims this proves the schools knew about the bullying but didn't protect Bart or punish his tormentors as required by their anti-bullying policy.