A 12-year-old Las Vegas girl allegedly killed herself after relentless bullying at school. Flora Martinez’s family has claimed that the school, Duane D. Keller Middle School, shot down their request to transfer her. Flora died by suicide on May 7.
“Look how hard it was on my daughter. My daughter was literally bullied to death,” her mother, Alice Martinez, told 8 News Now.
What happened to Flora Martinez?
Alice, along with Flora’s father Joshua Parker, accused the Clark County School District of failing to protect their daughter. They said Flora’s classmates continued to bully her even after they reported it to the school’s assistant principal.
Alice said the bullying began at the start of the 2023-24 academic year. Alice submitted paperwork to transfer her daughter out of middle school, but the CCSD allegedly denied the request on October 6, 2023. “At that point, I already had her out of school for two weeks because of all the incidents. Just that short amount of time into the school year,” Alice said.
The bullying started getting worse as the little girl returned to the classroom. “This wasn’t just one incident that happened, and you know, she decided to take her life. This was months and months and months of bullying that built up, and finally, she just couldn’t take it no more,” said.
Flora seems to have been targeted without any provocation. Her former classmate Rico said she was “so nice to everybody.” “I’m so sad, because like I felt like it’s my fault because I should have really done something. I should’ve pushed everybody out of the way. Got to her,” Rico said.
The family alleged that Flora endured the bullying right until the moment she died by suicide in her bedroom. “I feel like the school had a duty to keep her safe, while she was in their care and they just failed miserably,” Alice said. “Everybody that had a hand in that request to transfer her failed her … If you’re a parent and you’re not outraged by this, you’re part of the problem too.”
Discussing suicides can be triggering for some. However, suicides are preventable. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
