Tuesday, Mar 24 2009, 3:23 pm
Barry Smith
RALEIGH – When Leslie Thompson’s parents died within two months of each other about three years ago, she took her teenage sister under her wings.
Her sister, Erica Collora, was 15 at the time. Thompson said that her sister’s peers picked on her a lot because of her mannerisms.
“She always exhibited more of what people would characterize as boyish – the way she carries herself, the way she walks, the way she dresses, the way she played when she was little,” Thompson said.
Thompson said that children such as her sister who are harassed or bullied need more protection from school officials. That’s why Thompson said she is supporting a bill now in the General Assembly that would require local school systems to develop policies to combat bullying and harassment.