ALBANY, GA (WALB) -
Robert Hudson, a 10th grader at Westover High, clearly remembers when he was bullied in middle school.
"I was devastated every day. I'd hate waking up in the morning and going to school. I'd hate getting into my classroom because I knew the teasing was going to start," said Hudson.
He overcame the bullying with the help of his mother and best friend. But not everyone is so lucky.
"I've seen some good friends of mine being bullied. I've actually had people that I knew commit suicide because of bullying," said Hudson.
Hudson was one of several students from Dougherty County high schools who spoke to parents and school officials about how bullying impacts their schools.
"It's gotten so worse that we now have students bringing weapons to school. Weapons make them feel more safe at school and that shouldn't be the case," said Tiana Gordon, a 12th grade student at Dougherty High School.
Director of Student Services, Barbara Turner, organized Wednesday's summit, because reports of bullying are escalating.
"Many years ago it was just a name calling, the teasing. Now it's escalated to something even greater than that. It's gone into the physical attacks and then to the point where children are not equipped to handle these things. And then it can lead to more serious action of students involved in self injuries and even something as bad as suicide," said Turner.
And technology has made it easier for students to attack each other.
"We really don't have a lot of verbal bullying anymore or social bullying. It's moved towards cyber. They get on these social networks and it's a madhouse. And what happens is it goes from the social networks to the schools, and back to the social network. And so it never really gets handled," explained Gordon.
All of the students said parents should get more involved and teachers need to be held accountable for not reporting incidents.
"I want to see the teachers actually do something, because sometimes I see kids getting bullied and picked on and being shoved around and the teachers just stand there and don't do a thing," said Hudson.
Student representatives are responsible for going back to their schools and sharing ideas with other teens. Individual summits will be held at each high school.
School officials also plan to hold a separate bullying summit for middle school students and their parents.
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