I am starting this petition to address the district 54 school board, telling them we NEED Kirk Smalley to come do a presentation at the schools in district 54. Too many kids are taking their lives due to bullying. We need to do something to stop it. Kirk & his wife have traveled to hundreds of schools & spoken with more than 580,000 kids. They also met with President Obama & Mrs. Obama. I went to his presentation at Adlai Stevenson High School & let me tell you, in that auditorium full of students, you could hear a pin drop. The intensity was high, he really knows how to get the message across. He shows first-hand the life & death consequences of bullying. He shows us that we can be somebody & make a change. That we can stop the hate that's spreading through our community. This petition is also to tell the district 54 board that we should be able to see the movie Bully. Bully is a documentary that follows a year through the life of kids who are bullied & the struggles they & their families go through. Forgot to mention, theatres are now letting students & teachers see it FREE. It's only rated PG 13, so we should at least be able to let our junior highs see it. 

 Are you gonna stand seeing 1 in every 4 of your peers suffer at the hands of bullying? Are you gonna let suicide be the third leading cause of death among young people? For every suicide, there are at least 100 attempts. Are you gonna let half of why people commit suicide be to bullying? Are you gonna let those 160,000 kids stay home everyday because they are too afraid to go to school & face their bullies? Are you gonna let nearly 30% of students be victims to bullying? Every 40 seconds someone attempts suicide... Every 18 minutes someone succeeds... Are you gonna let your peers struggle? If you want to be part of the change, sign this petition. Do it for me. Do it for Ty. Do it for your peers. Be the change. You are somebody. Stand for the silent. Don't let bullying go unnoticed. Please sign this to show our school board that we need Kirk Smalley to come. We need change, & we need it NOW. 

 For more information go to standforthesilent.org .