Sixteen-year-old Special Ed student Paige Jones was first bullied at her school by a classmate, then beaten and left in a ditch.
Her mother Sandra feared the worst.
"I was terrified I thought she was dead, if you had saw her body slumped over just lifeless," she said.
Paige survived, and may be one of the lucky ones in what's now being called a nationwide epidemic that's taking many forms, according to Jill Cook of the America School Counselor Association.
"It's not just face to face bullying but the new technology has given an anonymity to how this is happening with young people," she said.
The Department of Education is now trying to make clear what schools should do.
In today's conference call, Education Secretary Arne Duncan detailed a letter sent to schools across the country, giving guidance on when bullying becomes a civil rights violation.
"Anti-gay bullying can often take the form of harassment for not conforming to gender stereotypes....Harassment on the base of these stereotypes is prohibited sex discrimination, " he said.
Bullying may be more prevalent than many think.
In a new survey of over 40,000 high school students by the Josephson Institute, 55 percent of boys and 33 percent of girls admit they themselves bullied, teased or taunted someone in just the last year, while 44 percent of boys and half of girls say they've been victims.
More than a quarter of public school students say they don't feel safe at school.
The administration now reminding educators they're also protectors who must take action to keep students safe.
A conference will be held in Washington, DC next year to raise awareness of the problem of bullying and to find ways to end it.
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