Student says he was bullied, beaten because he's German

CENTENNIAL – A middle school student says he was bullied and finally attacked because of his ancestry.

Adrian Ulm's father says he didn't realize the extent of the problem, until the 14-year-old was severely beaten.

"People would call me Nazi or ask me if my granddad was Hitler or something," said Adrian.

Adrian is in the 8th grade at West Middle School in Greenwood Village. He grew up in Germany and says those comments are not a laughing matter where he comes from.

"I told them that the Nazi time is over and that usually people are nice there and they just didn't stop," he said.

Adrian says the other students would steal from him, taking pencils, markers and a calculator worth $100.

At first, Adrian's father, Heinz, thought it was just boys being boys. However, on Nov. 30, Heinz got a distressing phone call.

"He just said, 'Daddy I cannot walk. Can you come pick me up?'" said Heinz. "I was totally shocked when I saw him - face full of blood, arm hanging down."

Hospital reports show Adrian had a head injury and a broken collar bone. Reports from Centennial Police show he was beaten by another 8th grader while at the school bus stop near County Line Road and Yosemite.

Adrian says he agreed to fight the other 8th grader at their bus stop in hopes it would finally end the bullying.

"If I would have left, then I would have been called a sissy," he said. "Usually it stops. If you ignore them, they stop bullying you, but I ignore them, they still don't stop."

Adrian says he's trying to move on, focusing on his acting and rehearsing for a musical in which he plays a Jewish boy. The school has expelled the boy who beat him, but Adrian says that has not stopped the threats.

"Now his friends tell me he's gonna beat me up even more when he comes back," said Adrian.

Heinz says he's frustrated and wishes he could solve the problem.

"I don't know whether the school alone can do something," said Heinz.

Heinz says he believes parents are the only answer to bullying in schools.

"I think Adrian has suffered enough and other kids might suffer too and they're just not having the guts to stand up and express it because there's a lot of fear," said Heinz.

Because Adrian agreed to the fight, neither boy is facing criminal charges.

A spokesperson for West Middle School says the school is working with the family to make sure Adrian is safe. Teachers and faculty have also increased efforts at the school to raise awareness and reduce bullying.

"It's not just the physical pain that you have, it's the emotional pain," said Adrian. "The parents should talk to their kids about it, because I know there's a lot more kids being bullied at school."

Researchers at the University of Denver say a local program can help prevent bullying among elementary school students. They studied more than 1,100 children, split into two groups, in 28 schools in the Denver Public School District.

One group attended a program called Youth Matters. It focuses on teaching social and emotional skills used to prevent bullying. A second group did not participate in the program.

After two academic years, reports of bullying in the first group went down by 20 percent. Reports in the second group dropped by 10 percent.

The study is published in the December 2007 issue of "Prevention Science."

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