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Folsom District's Response To Seventh-Grader's Suicide Drawing Heavy Scrutiny

FOLSOM (CBS13) — More than a week after a 12-year-old Folsom boy took his own life after friends say he was bullied, the district's response is being called into question by parents.

Ronin Shimizu took his own life on Dec. 3. Friends and family say he was the victim of bullying as the only male cheerleader of the Vista Junior Eagles Cheer Team.

Now many are wondering if Folsom Cordova Unified School District did enough to help him.

Superintendent Debbie Bettencourt was said to be too busy to talk to CBS13 on Friday, but announced her plans in the wake of Shimizu's death. Those plans include having a clear definition of bullying and then more communication between schools when children transfer, and finally more training.

Lisa Ford Berry became an anti-bullying advocate after her son, Michael, took his life at Mira Loma High School in Sacramento in 2008.

"Bottom line, this shouldn't happen," she said. It shouldn't happen the first time, but it should never happen again."

She says while most of the plan sounds productive—especially the part about training—she hopes it will extend to support staff, not just teachers.

"They're not trained, and many times they are ground zero," she said.

Berry has a problem with a comment from Bettencourt to the school board saying, "There is a difference between playground antics and childhood play and bullying."

"That specific part of her statement is wrong," Berry said. "When we start to say, hey, it's normal, no. It might be normal for the guy across the street, but that doesn't mean it's normal for me."

Bettencourt plans to form a committee and subcommittees to help in the process, as the district continues to investigate how they handled the complaints brought by Shimizu's family.

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