DELTA - North Delta's Burnsview Secondary school is in mourning
once again after a Grade 12 student committed suicide there on Friday.
Comments posted on social media sites suggested the girl had been bullied but a statement released by the Delta school district on behalf of her parents indicates otherwise.
"We are not looking to hold anyone responsible for this tragic event, and do not consider bullying to be a factor," their statement reads.
"Our daughter was a beautiful, bright young woman and we trust that the media and public will not add to the grief of our family at this time."
The girl was a rugby player and budding actor. Delta police Const. Ciaran Feenan confirmed police are not investigating what might have led to her death.
Delta school spokesman Deneka Michaud said grief counsellors are helping students.
"People are very upset but the support is there and they have come together as a school community to get through it," she said.
"The incident is not linked to bullying," she added. "There's no indication that bullying was a factor."
Burnsview's students and staff have suffered much, not only with this latest death but with the Sept. 26, 2010 murder of Laura Szendrei, who was a Grade 10 French immersion student at the school.
Szendrei was attacked in a wooded park several blocks away from the school.
As students mourn this latest tragedy they were subjected to a school lockdown on Monday afternoon after Delta police responded to a 911 call that two young men were fighting near a portable behind Burnsview and that one of them had a knife.
Feenan said the two had been passing through the school grounds and were arrested elsewhere.
Neither was a student at the school.
Meanwhile, kids harbouring suicidal thoughts don't have to handle it on their own.
The Kids Help Phone, at 1-800-668-6868, or online at kidshelpphone.ca, is Canada's only 24-hour toll-free bilingual and anonymous counselling service.
The group's website recommends that people who are feeling suicidal, or have a plan to commit suicide, should call 911 immediately for help.
- With files by Marisa Babic and Tom Zillich
Comments posted on social media sites suggested the girl had been bullied but a statement released by the Delta school district on behalf of her parents indicates otherwise.
"We are not looking to hold anyone responsible for this tragic event, and do not consider bullying to be a factor," their statement reads.
"Our daughter was a beautiful, bright young woman and we trust that the media and public will not add to the grief of our family at this time."
The girl was a rugby player and budding actor. Delta police Const. Ciaran Feenan confirmed police are not investigating what might have led to her death.
Delta school spokesman Deneka Michaud said grief counsellors are helping students.
"People are very upset but the support is there and they have come together as a school community to get through it," she said.
"The incident is not linked to bullying," she added. "There's no indication that bullying was a factor."
Burnsview's students and staff have suffered much, not only with this latest death but with the Sept. 26, 2010 murder of Laura Szendrei, who was a Grade 10 French immersion student at the school.
Szendrei was attacked in a wooded park several blocks away from the school.
As students mourn this latest tragedy they were subjected to a school lockdown on Monday afternoon after Delta police responded to a 911 call that two young men were fighting near a portable behind Burnsview and that one of them had a knife.
Feenan said the two had been passing through the school grounds and were arrested elsewhere.
Neither was a student at the school.
Meanwhile, kids harbouring suicidal thoughts don't have to handle it on their own.
The Kids Help Phone, at 1-800-668-6868, or online at kidshelpphone.ca, is Canada's only 24-hour toll-free bilingual and anonymous counselling service.
The group's website recommends that people who are feeling suicidal, or have a plan to commit suicide, should call 911 immediately for help.
- With files by Marisa Babic and Tom Zillich
© 2017 Delta Optimist
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