Norwich — A forum on bullying Wednesday quickly turned into an emotional support group, as two parents and a grandparent vowed to help participating middle school and high school students avoid what they say is the hell their sons are going through in high school.

The mother and grandmother of a St. Bernard High School senior, who asked not to be identified, said they have tried for three years to get the school and Montville police to respond to the bullying they said progressed to criminal behavior. They said their son’s car was vandalized and urinated on in the school parking lot, and that the boy suffered repeated bullying since his sophomore year.

They reported incidents to teachers, principals and superintendents, but no action was ever taken. At one point, the mother confronted the bullies, but they taunted her.

“My daughter has been bullied by the bullies,” the grandmother said. “We have gone to every level, right up to the bishop, who would not get in communication with us.”

Frequently becoming choked up, the boy’s mother said the family wants to get through one more month before her son graduates and goes to college. But turning to students at the forum, she vowed to stay active and fight for them against bullying.

Debbie Kievits, coordinator of the Greater Norwich Anti-Bullying Coalition, called the forum to encourage parents and students to become “upstanders” rather than bystanders. By the end of the 90-minute forum, the dozen participants said they wanted to meet regularly as a support and watchdog group to make sure schools follow anti-bullying laws Kievits’ coalition helped pass.

Rose Bushwack of Montville said she became frustrated at the denial by officials at Montville High School after her son was struck twice and was threatened with being stabbed. Bushwack voiced her complaints to the Board of Education Tuesday night, and at Wednesday’s forum, she said her son is mobilizing students.

The boy gathered signatures and phone numbers of 89 fellow students at Montville High School who want to combat bullying at the school.

Victoria McAvay, a sixth grader at Teachers Memorial Middle School in Norwich, said she has been called “weird” and a “hippo” by older students. The girl said she sometimes lashes out, screaming at the bullies and once lightly kicking one on the bus.

Victoria read the student handbook on bullying and brought it to the attention of teachers.

“The teachers say, ‘you read the handbook, that’s cool,’” Victoria said. “They don’t do anything.”

Her mother, Kerri McAvay and older sister, Shay, an 11th grader at Norwich Free Academy, also attended the forum.

When Victoria said she once wrote a poem about herself saying she isn’t pretty, the Montville and St. Bernard parents cut in.

“Don’t ever give into them,” Bushwack said. “Don’t ever put yourself down, because that’s what they want.”

“Write poems about how beautiful you are,” the St. Bernard mother added.