‘They’ve got to do better;’ Mom calls on school district after teenage son’s suicide

By Alexis Zotos

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    WEST ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Missouri (KMOV) — Sheila Mueller is living every parent’s worst nightmare. She is planning her son’s funeral, he was just 13 years old.

“I can’t wrap my head around the fact that I have to put my baby in a casket and put him in the ground. I can’t. He was the most loving little boy,” said Shelia Mueller.

Klos Mueller was an 8th grader at LaSalle Middle School in the Rockwood School District. On Saturday he took his own life.

“There was a text message on his phone that he sent to a friend that said ‘I would rather be dead than go to school there one more day,” Mueller said.

Mueller said bullying has been a problem for a while. Just last month, she emailed the administration about a particular incident.

“A classmate came up to Klos and said ‘knock knock’ and Klos said ‘Who’s there?’ and he said ‘Not your dad.’ It killed Klos, it crushed him,” Mueller explained. Klos was just 2 years old when his dad committed suicide.

Mueller said the district emailed her back that the incident would be handled. The district said they cannot speak to the specific incident, but said they take all bullying reports seriously.

“We have to continue to work that much harder to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said Terry Harris, the Executive Director of Student Services for the district.

The Rockwood School District has implemented a number of programs to battle bullying and help with student mental health.

They’ve held seminars, started peer-to-peer programs and started a partnership with Hazel Health to provide access to counselors even faster for students looking for help. But with all these programs, they are still facing challenges of bullying and student suicide.

“We probably have more resources than any other school district around, and yet, we find ourselves in this situation again. That’s the piece that’s really hard, that’s really frustrating. That’s the part that keeps me up at night,” said Harris.

But Sheila Mueller said she will not stop until something changes. She has a 5-year-old son in the district and does not want him to face the same challenges.

“I don’t want my kid to be gone for nothing. I want kids to stop being mean because my kid was so special,” she said.

Funeral arrangements are still pending.

If you or anyone you know is in need of help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which is available 24 hours a day at 800-273-8255. Missouri and Illinois also have suicide prevention resources.

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