STOKES COUNTY, N.C. — New details surfaced after a 13-year-old Stokes County Middle Schooler took her life nearly two months ago.
Her father shared that he uncovered an email his daughter Kallie Fagg wrote to a school official about bullying a year before her death.
Jimmy Fagg said he believes bullying led to his daughter's death. He requested all documents related to bullying from the district. Jimmy Fagg told WFMY News 2, he never expected to uncover a letter from his daughter asking for help.
The letter sent from Kallie Fagg's school email account reads, "The people I've seen bullying make little mean comments on their looks, hygiene, and clothes," Kallie Fagg wrote, " They even make fun of them for diseases or something they can't help like a lazy eye or eating disorder.
"She's begging for help. This was a 12-year-old reaching out for help and it was just filed away," her father said, " She had a lazy eye; she opted to have surgery between sixth and seventh grade. It was cosmetic surgery to fix it because she didn't wanna get picked on anymore and she wanted to be like everybody else."
In a statement, the Superintendent of Stokes County Schools said he "Is aware of the letter submitted last year," and the principal at the time "Met with Kallie personally," and they worked together on bullying prevention programs at the school. Her father said he has no recollection of this happening.
"As excitable as she was, if she would've put an idea to the school, they would have run with it," her father said. "She would have come home and told us that the school did something she suggested."
Fagg started a non-profit named 'Kindness for Kallie' to honor his daughter.
In December, he plans to start an annual fundraiser on what would have been Kallie Fagg's 14th birthday. The money will go towards scholarships for students and families impacted by bullying.
Full statement from Stokes County Schools:
First and foremost, our hearts continue to be with the Fagg family following this tragedy. I cannot imagine what they are going through, and they have our ongoing prayers and deepest condolences.
As I have spoken about previously, we have taken significant steps recently to continue our efforts to eliminate bullying in schools. Our staff has undertaken additional training on bullying prevention, and we will continue to provide opportunities for such training. We are implementing student awareness meetings to help students better recognize and respond to any bullying they may witness, and we have posters up throughout our schools with information and a support phone number. While I cannot comment on specific student discipline, I can confirm that our administrators are enforcing the new guidelines the Board has put in place. We will continue to assess and implement new strategies as appropriate, because our students’ safety, including their emotional safety, is our highest priority.
I am aware of the letter that Kallie submitted last year. The letter was a truly thoughtful expression of Kallie’s concerns about bullying in general, and she specifically requested that the school take a week in October for intentional programming about bullying prevention. In response, Dr. Lessane met with Kallie personally to discuss her concerns and ideas, and following that conversation worked with Kallie to implement a week of bullying prevention programming at the school. That programming included daily announcements of positive affirmations delivered by students over the intercom, having students complete pledge cards in which they identified ways that they could help stand up for peers in the face of bullying, a day of solidarity in which students wore orange to signify their unity in anti-bullying efforts, and more.
Our schools have taken and continue to take bullying very seriously and will continue to work to reduce these behaviors, in the hope that no other family will have to endure what Kallie’s family has.
Sincerely,
Brad Rice, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Stokes County Schools