Meryi Mueller Room 205 September 19, 2011

the police. Once the charges were actually pressed against the boys, thats when it got really bad, said Beatrice. Thats when I started getting death

A Montgomery County teenager knows first-hand how bad it can be. She is a double victim, after first being assaulted physically and then emotionally by her classmates. Studies show that as many as half of all children are bullied sometime during their school years. But with e-mailing and texting, bullying has reached a more disturbing level. For one teenager, the taunting and harassment has been constant and especially vicious. I never that my best friends would go against me, said Beatrice Culbertson. 16-year-old Beatrice Culbertson is talking about the horrible bullying shes been living with for nearly two years. It follows what she says was the worst day of her life. Two classmates raped Beatrice last year. She says she thought she and a friend were going to hang out with two teen boys. Instead they took her to a Lansdale alley as she texted the friend left behind. I texted her, and I said theyre taking me , and thats when the one boy started touching me, and I said, theyre raping me, Beatrice said. The text messages were introduced into evidence in juvenile court, but Beatrice and her family never expected what happened next. Girls that I thought were my good friends, turned on me immediately. The same with the boys, Beatrice said. She received a barrage of hateful emails, texts, and phone calls from classmates; angry that she reported the assaulted to

threats. It blew my mind, said Randy Culbertson, because she was never short of friends. Beatrices dad still gets emotional at the thought of his daughter has endured. I cant explain it, Randy said. While out on bail, one of Beatrices alleged attackers were allowed to return to school. She tried to go back as well, but couldnt stay. They promised me he would not have contact with me, I wouldnt see him, and I saw him every single day, said Beatrice. my older sister had to see him every single day. Beatrices older sister, a sophomore at the time, was also taunted and bullied. I wasnt expecting so many people to hate us, said Schyler Culbertson. The Culbertsons say the school told them Beatrices attacker had a legal right to an education, while engaged in due process, and offered to send her to Northbridge, the alternative school. I actually did the right thing, and they wanted to send me to a school that kids break the rules, Beatrice said. Thats what disappointed her mother the most. The school, the school nobody would listen. They were really not on her side at all, said Tina Culbertson, the north Penn school district has issued a statement saying its working to ensure that appropriate attendance arrangements are made for the student victim for the upcoming school year. Montgomery County, District Attorney, Risa Forman, was so struck by the level of cruelty in this case that she has reached out to the family. What she

went through was horrific, but right now as the new school year is starting, she and her siblings need to have a place where they can go and be safe, said Forman. Beatrices attackers pleaded guilty to sexual assault. As children around the Delaware Valley are gearing up for the new school year, many of them will face bullying by the other students.