Students at Nex Benedict’s Oklahoma school walk out to protest bullying policies
After the death of Nex Benedict, classmates at Owasso High School say bullying often goes unpunished, which led them to protest the school’s policies with a walk out.
OWASSO, Okla. — At least 40 students at Owasso High School walked out Monday to protest what they describe as a pervasive culture of bullying with little accountability, which they believe led to a student’s death at their school.
Nex Benedict, 16, died Feb. 8, a day after a fight in a bathroom on the school’s West Campus. In body camera footage from a police officer’s interview with Nex, he described how three students “jumped” him after he threw water on them because they were bullying him and his friend over the way that they dressed.
Nex’s mother, Sue Benedict, previously told The Independent that Nex told her he faced bullying due to his gender identity. Friends said Nex was transgender and primarily went by he/him pronouns at school but also used they/them pronouns, which Nex's family also used. Several other friends said Nex preferred he/him pronouns. In the body camera footage, when the police officer asked Nex if he ever reported the bullying to the school, Nex said, “I didn’t really see the point in it.”
Owasso students told NBC News that Nex’s answer is common among their classmates: LGBTQ students and others who face bullying due to their identities feel like when they report the bullying to the school, they either aren’t believed or nothing really changes.
Flower and tributes to Nex Benedict have been left outside Owasso High School.Shelby Tauber for NBC NewsAn Owasso High School spokesperson Brock Crawford said that students attend an assembly at the beginning of each school year that "includes the processes and procedures they should follow to report bullying or other safety concerns."
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