Wyoming teacher, 31, charged over 11-year-old boy's suicide after she let him go to the bathroom alo
A Wyoming teacher accused of leaving an 11-year-old boy unsupervised at school, contributing to his suicide, pleaded not guilty to child endangerment charges.
Amelia Giordano, 31, a music teacher at Carpenter Elementary school, was charged last month in connection with the January suicide death of 11-year-old Paul Pine.
She appeared alongside her attorney, Mary Ames, in Cheyenne Circuit Court Thursday morning.
Giordano is facing a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment, punishable by up to a year in jail and $1,000 in fines.
The judge allowed her to be released on her own recognizance.
She is set to appear at a scheduling conference on November 2 and ordered to have no contact with the boy's family, according to the Cowboy State Daily.
A Wyoming teacher accused of leaving 11-year-old Paul Pine (pictured) unsupervised at school, contributing to his suicide, pleaded not guilty to child endangerment charges
Amelia Giordano, 31, a music teacher at Carpenter Elementary school, was charged last month in connection with the January suicide death of 11-year-old Paul Pine
Pine, who experienced academic difficulty in school, had suicidal thoughts that he shared with his family
Giordano was charged after she let Pine, a child who was known to have suicide idealizations in the past, use the bathroom alone.
It was revealed that Pine was left unattended in the bathroom for at least 17 minutes, despite his threats to hang himself in there.
Teachers had been instructed to supervise the child when he used the restrooms.
Pine hanged himself in the bathroom of Carpenter Elementary on January 9, just one month short of his 12th birthday.
Pine, who experienced academic difficulty in school, had suicidal thoughts that he shared with his family.
His mother said because he was behind in reading, he was often singled out by teachers at the school, according to the Gillette News Record.
Giordano (pictured) is facing a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment, punishable by up to a year in jail and $1,000 in fines
Pine hanged himself in the bathroom of Carpenter Elementary on January 9, just one month short of his 12th birthday
Paul's mother, Chandel Pine, believes the school failed him by not following the proper procedure
Pine's family along with his school reportedly had a plan in place instructing teachers not to let students go to the bathroom without supervision
Last October, Pine told his family that he had a plan to die by suicide, specifically in his school's bathroom.
After telling his mother, she took her son to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center's emergency room where he was admitted for inpatient treatment and missed a week of school.
His parents then spent weeks trying countless methods to get their son the help that he needed.
Pine's family along with his school reportedly had a plan in place instructing teachers not to let students go to the bathroom without supervision.
Paul's mother, Chandel Pine, believes the school failed him by not following the proper procedure.
The family was able to obtain a video of the incident, where they discovered Giordano and another teacher peeking into the door of the boys bathroom multiple times over the course of 17 minutes without intervening.
Only then, did the school's principal enter the bathroom to find Paul.
The principal performed CPR until Paul was airlifted to the hospital.
'So, a child, who had a safety plan in place and was supposed to begin an IEP, was missing for 17 minutes,' Chandel said at the time, according to the Gillette News Record.
'He was sunny, his imagination was boundless,' Pine told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle at the time.
The principal performed CPR until Paul was airlifted to the hospital.
Last October, Pine told his family that he had a plan to die by suicide, specifically in his school's bathroom
'He was sunny, his imagination was boundless,' his mother told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle at the time
'I heard many people say, 'To know him was to love him.' He was athletic, he played any sport he could. I mean, he just lit up a room,' she added.
A new CDC report, released this August, has revealed that suicides in the US are at an all-time high.
More Americans took their own lives in the last year than ever before, according to national data.
Figures published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that 49,500 adults in the US committed suicide in 2022, driven by access to guns and increased rates of depression.
The data suggests that suicides are now more common in the US than at any time since World War II.
This week, a Utah school reached a $2million settlement with the family of a 10-year-old who died by suicide two years ago after being horrifically bullied.
Davis School District, which runs Foxboro Elementary School, agreed to hand Izzy Tichenor's relatives the lump sum after it was approved by the Utah Legislature.
The figure was vastly down from the $14million the family had sought in a lawsuit last year, claiming the child was bullied, abused, harassed, and excluded from activities' because she was 'female, learning disabled, poor, homeless and black.'
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