10/05/2026
As a father who has had to step in and protect my own child from bullying at school, this hits especially close to home. 💔
We are constantly telling our kids to walk away from fights, ignore the bullies, tell a teacher, and be the bigger person. But Xavier did walk away, and he never made it home.. 💔
17-year-old Xavier Nungaray was a senior at Benjamin Franklin High School. On September 30, a video showed another student repeatedly hitting him in a classroom while a teacher tried to intervene. Xavier eventually got up and ran out of the room. Shortly afterward, he went over a fourth-floor railing and later died from his injuries. Authorities are still investigating exactly what happened.
What makes this even more heartbreaking is that his family says this wasn’t an isolated incident. Xavier had reportedly been bullied throughout high school and was afraid to speak up because he worried he would somehow be the one to get in trouble.
As a father who has experienced a child being bullied at school this hits even closer to home. In my child’s case they were forced to change classes while the bully got to stay, why was my child who was the victim forced to change their life for a BULLY.
Why are we putting so much responsibility on the child who is being bullied? Why are we constantly telling them to ignore it, walk away, and not react, while the children doing the bullying continue to get away with hurting others?
We tell our kids to speak up, but what happens when they do and nothing changes? What happens when they’re too afraid to speak up at all? And why should a child have to keep enduring emotional or physical abuse just because we’re teaching them to be the bigger person?
Walking away only works when there’s somewhere safe to walk to. Our children should not have to fear going to school, sitting in a classroom, walking down a hallway, or simply being themselves.
No parent should have to worry about whether their child will make it home from school. And no child should ever feel so helpless, alone, or unsafe that they don’t know where to turn.
We need to stop brushing bullying off as kids being kids. We need to stop waiting until something tragic happens before taking it seriously. Schools need to listen, take reports seriously, intervene, and make sure children are actually being protected, not just told how to handle being mistreated.
It’s time we hold the parents of bullies responsible. If their child doesn’t know any better, the parent must right? If schools and school districts are too afraid to hold the bully responsible then it’s time we hold the parents responsible.
It’s also time we hold the bystanders responsible. Recording someone getting beat up, or harassed without stepping in should make you just as responsible as the bully themselves. After all we should be upstanders not bystanders right?
My heart breaks for Xavier, his family, and every parent who has had to watch their child suffer at the hands of bullies. No child deserves this, and no parent should have to fight so hard just to make sure their child is safe.
It’s time to stop teaching our kids how to survive bullying and start holding the people responsible for stopping it accountable. 💔
