A 12-year-old student in Spalding County has died following reported bullying at school. The case has left a Georgia community searching for answers about what happened in the lead-up to the child's death.
According to FOX 5 Atlanta, a student died following bullying.
An Earlier Case Raised Similar Alarms in the Same District
Separately, an earlier report described a 12-year-old named Nathan, who recorded himself describing being bullied at Cowan Road Middle School. Nathan said two boys attacked him in a school bathroom and broke his glasses.
Nathan's mother, May Martin, said she had previously tried to get her son transferred out of Cowan Road Middle School because of the bullying, but the district declined her request, per the same account. The Griffin-Spalding County school system said at the time that it had thoroughly investigated the bullying complaint and taken disciplinary action under its student code of conduct. The sheriff's office also said it had an active investigation into the allegations raised in Nathan's video, though that status applies only to the earlier case and is not evidence of any investigation tied to Wednesday's report.
What Georgia Law Requires of School Districts
Georgia law requires local school boards to adopt policies that prohibit bullying, including cyberbullying, and to incorporate those prohibitions into student codes of conduct, according to Georgia Code § 20-2-751.4.
Other Georgia Families Have Faced Similar Losses
Spalding County is not the only Georgia community grappling with a child's death tied to reported bullying this year. In the week before Nov. 11, 2026, 12-year-old Jada West died following a fight connected to an argument on a school bus, and her mother said Jada had experienced repeated bullying after recently transferring to Mason Creek Middle School, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. Douglas County schools said at the time that the incident did not occur on school property or during school hours and that nothing indicated it was related to on-campus activity.
A separate case in Los Angeles drew national attention when 12-year-old Khimberly Zavaleta Chuquipa died on Feb. 25 after an alleged school bullying incident in which her family said she was struck in the head with a metal water bottle while defending her sister, according to the Los Angeles Times. Khimberly's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Los Angeles Unified, alleging the school failed to take prior bullying reports seriously.
