Boy's Suicide Prompts Push For New Anti-Bullying Policy

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- The Carlsbad School District will consider a new policy against bullies, due to the efforts of a couple whose 12-year-old son committed suicide after years of abuse by his peers, 10News reported.

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BULLIED TO DEATH IMAGES: Bullied Student Commits Suicide

Matthew Gilman killed himself in January.

"He just did not want to go back to school ever again," father Troy Gilman said.

He left the following poem behind.

It was a dark and cool night
At night I am in my bedroom
No one goes to school at night

"Matthew didn't deserve to be bullied. He was a loving child," his mother, Michelle Gilman, said.

Matthew went to Calavera Middle School in Carlsbad and suffered years of bullying.

Nick Cohen, a fifth-grader at Calavera Middle School, said he wants the bullying he endures to end.

"You don't know what to do. You don't know how to react. You don't want to react to it because they will see, 'Oh, that gets to him,'" Cohen said.

Parents and students crowded a school board meeting Wednesday to push for a tough policy prohibiting teasing, shoving, hitting, name calling, social isolation and manipulation. And they want zero tolerance.

"Give them a warning, then suspension, then expulsion, and then get the police involved," Cohen said.

The Gilmans said they don't want another family to experience their heartbreak.

"It's horrible. We have to live with this the rest of our lives," Troy Gilman said.

The district will likely vote on an anti-bulling policy sometime in May, according to 10News.

Parents and students are hoping to have one in place by the start of the next school year.