AMELIA COUNTY, Va. — An Amelia County family says their 17-year-old son, John Tyrcha, took his own life due to "relentless bullying" at school for years.
Less than 24 hours after taking their concerns to school administrators at a special meeting, they say they're unsure if any change will come, unless they take matters into their own hands.
"I don’t want another family to have to go through this," his mother, Melissa Aigner, told CBS 6 Tuesday afternoon, sitting with John's father, John Tyrcha, and stepfather, Andy Aigner. "Nobody needs to sign their child’s death certificate because of bullying."
Aigner said pervasive bullying started when her son was in elementary school, around the same time that he was diagnosed with a reading disability.
"He didn't want to seem or be looked at differently from the rest of the kids," Tyrcha said.
"The resources were there, and he even had a tutor for a while, out in Amelia, but he didn’t want to use his resources, because he didn’t want to get bullied. He didn’t want to get made fun of or talked about," Andy Aigner said.
Aigner said as John got older, things got worse. While enrolled at Amelia County High School, she said there was constant communication with school staff about bullying incidents, and John would allegedly go lengths to get suspended, just to be away from his bullies.
The family said he suffered with his mental health, and at one point, was even admitted into a clinic for treatment.
“I would ask him almost on a daily basis, when he was at home, are you okay? Do you need to call your therapist? What do you need from me? 'I'm fine, mom,' I even talked to him about coming to live with his dad to get away from Amelia. He was like, 'No, I want to stay here. I want to graduate from here.' It just got to the point where he couldn't, couldn't take it anymore," Melissa Aigner said.
The week John took his own life, his family said he was hit by a student twice while at school.
Just a few days later, they say writing appeared on a school wall, with the name and letters "KYS," short for "kill yourself."
The following Friday, the day he took his life, his family told CBS 6 he was not in school due to a suspension.
“What John went through, there was malicious intent behind it. You know, you don't walk up behind somebody and just punch them twice and walk away. That's malicious. You don't write on the walls about the things that they wrote. That's malicious," Andy Aigner said.
CBS 6 did reach out to Amelia County Public Schools' superintendent for more information about the picture and what disciplinary steps were taken, but we have not heard back at this time.
Shortly after John's passing, the district released a statement saying that every incident is "taken with the utmost seriousness" and that often times, most efforts and actions taken by the school leadership often remain unseen by the public.
"A lot of the staff does what they can. Due to policies that we have, there’s only so much that they can do," Melissa Aigner said, noting that she once worked in the same school her son attended.
But stepfather Andy Aigner said he worries if procedural change will pay off for students suffering the way John did.
"They do not follow them," he said regarding the current procedures lined out in the Student Code of Conduct. "They're great that they have them, but they don’t follow them, and they don’t enforce them."
Andy Aigner said that's why the family now wants Virginia Law defining bullying to be clearer, since it does not include "ordinary teasing, horseplay, argument, or peer conflict," essentially leaving educators at their own discretion for determining what defines bullying and does not.
The family also said that they're advocating for tougher penalties for bullies.
The family has been in talks with State Senator Ryan McDougle and Virginia Delegate Scott Wyatt about naming new legislation after their son.
"This isn't a Democrat or Republican issue," Andy Aigner said. "This is a human issue, and this is a bipartisan issue."
The family said they felt supported by the parents who spoke out at Monday night's special meeting, highlighting stories of students being bullied and their reports falling on deaf ears, and are taking a "wait-and-see" approach to changes within the school district while they advocate for state-wide change.
"It's unfair what he went through," Melissa Aigner said. "The only thing we have left now are memories and pictures, but we will live out his legacy by pushing 'John's Law,' and anti-bullying, mental awareness. People need to know, and that is how we will live the rest of our days."
CBS 6 also asked ACPS for any comment they'd like to share following Monday's meeting or in response to the Tyrcha family's concerns shared with media outlets. We have not heard back at this time.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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