May 29, 2009  |   By: Matt Schafer  |  COMMENTS   |     |   

ATLANTA — Dunaire Elementary School outside Atlanta is not liable or guilty of any wrongdoing in the recent suicide of fifth-grader Jaheem Herrera, according to a former judge hired to review the incident.

Herrera, an 11-year-old fifth grade student at Dunaire, killed himself after coming home from school April 16. His parents have said he was the victim of persistent bullying from classmates, including being constantly called “gay.”

But retired judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings More, hired by the DeKalb County School System to investigate Dunaire, said Herrera was an equal and willing participant in several incidents before his death.

“I conclude that no bullying occurred at Dunaire, none was reported, and that the teachers, principals, and staff responded to every event or report of any event as they should with care and concern,” Moore said May 20 during a press conference at the DeKalb County Schools’ District Office.

Moore said she interviewed more than 50 witnesses connected to Dunaire over several weeks. She painted a picture of Dunaire as a highly transient school that serves 635 students, one of three of which are considered homeless, and roughly 90 percent of the students’ families earn a low enough income to qualify for the free or reduced lunch program.

Moore said Herrera had several incidents with a student who transferred into Dunaire during the spring who was “throwing gang signs.” She said her investigation of a Dec. 18 bathroom fight that ended when Herrera was caught in a headlock — causing him to possibly pass out — was the result of a fight Herrera started.

“The boys met in the bathroom. Jaheem came in swinging, the boy who had been enlisted to fight [for another boy who was reportedly afraid of Herrera] put Jaheem in a wrestling chokehold. Jaheem, according to the boy, turned colors, and another friend of Jaheem, and there were several from both sides in the bathroom, tried to kick the boy to get him to release Jaheem and he accidentally kicked Jaheem the head,” Moore said.

School administrators did not learn of the fight until January, at which time they suspended Herrera and the other boy. The school later held assemblies dealing with violence and gangs.

Unlike an April 27 conference the school system limited to media representatives, the May 20 press conference was open to Herrera’s mother, Masika Bermudez, stepfather Norman Keene, and several parents and supporters to watch from the lobby via closed circuit television. At one point during the press conference, while Moore was refuting Bermudez’s account, she could be heard loudly sobbing through the lobby’s closed doors.

Bermudez said she went to the school a number of times to call attention to how her son was being treated. Moore noted that Bermudez made comments about not liking how children treated each other in this area, and said she would return to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“The prevention-intervention specialist, counselor and the principal indicate there was no reaction on the part of Jaheem’s mother to suspension. In fact, there was no complaint of bullying or bullying of Jaheem when Jaheem was re-entered, nor at any other time,” Moore said.

Bermudez, Keene and their lawyer Gerald Griggs left the press conference. Griggs could not be reached for further comment.

Teachers told students ‘gay’ means happy

Moore refuted much of Bermudez’s comments to the media, but she acknowledged that Herrera was taunted with gay slurs.

“Following spring break, Jaheem came to school with a pink book bag, and there was some evidence from the students that the students said ‘that’s gay,’ speaking of the book bag,” Moore said. “Now with these students we asked them, ‘Well, what does gay mean?’ They said ‘gay means happy,’ and this is many of the students.”

Moore said that few students told investigators they knew that gay is slang for homosexuals.

“But I would say that the term ‘gay’ did not have a sexual connotation for the most part. The children use ‘gay’ for anything and everything, the clothing is gay, the gesture is gay, what they say is gay, and that is a term they use,” she said. “Some students did tell us they had asked their teacher what gay meant and their teachers are the ones who told them gay means happy.”

At the April 27 press conference, DeKalb County Superintendent Dr. Crawford Lewis said his staff care about what is said to their students. When a reporter asked Lewis if his staff’s reported response that “gay means happy” was appropriate, he said it provided a teaching moment.

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