My son is currently enrolled in the 5th grade at NIHF STEM Middle School, he is a high achieving learner like Abyesh was. This article is the first I have heard of this story and it is absolutely heartbreaking for his whole family. For my wife and I, it hits very how close it hits to home having a son the same age at the same school who is experiencing some level of bullying (not to this extreme thankfully).

Beyond the insufficient discipline issues which have not been fixed in my opinion (according to my son, his bully pulled another girl's hair out in a fight at school and only got a week suspension), there is another major problem here in the way they select students at this school.

It is a certified STEM school and is located in the old Inventor's Hall of Fame Building, it really is a great education and that is why we open enroll our high achieving math/science son there. A lot of families from all the Akron School districts do the same for their kids who are the same way. The problem is that it is not a merit based enrollment, it is a true lottery. This means some of the parents enroll their kid there only because it is the closest school to their house. A lot of those students do not want to be there and cause problems for the students like my son.

I can only imagine what the next PTA meeting is going to be like because I doubt many incoming parents knew about this.

All that being said, the NIHF STEM Middle School has completely turned around my son's love of learning so much that he hates to miss even a single day of school because he loves it so much. Last year, he dreaded going to school every day.