New Jersey

Months After Teen's Suicide, New Lawsuit Alleges NJ District Ignored Bullying Claims

The latest complaint alleges the Central Regional School District in Ocean County was aware but did nothing about the alleged abuse of a student with autism, according to a report

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What to Know

  • Adriana Kuch was a 14-year-old freshman at Central Regional High School in Bayville, New Jersey. She took her own life on Feb. 3, two days after humiliating footage of an in-school hallway attack by a number of other students was posted on social media
  • The girl's father blasted the school administration over its bullying policy and handling of her case; hundreds have protested the response in the days since she died. The district superintendent resigned, students staged day-long walkouts and now more bullying claims are emerging
  • If you or someone you know needs help, please contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling 988, call the National Suicide Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting ‘Home’ to 741741 anytime

A New Jersey school district is facing another lawsuit of allegedly failing to investigate harassment and bullying, which comes just months after a 14-year-old student took her own life days after being tormented on social media and video showed her getting attacked by classmates in a school hallway.

The latest complaint alleges the Central Regional School District in Ocean County was aware but did nothing about the alleged abuse of a student with autism, according to the Bergen Record. It was reportedly filed by an unnamed parent who said their child "has been subjected to a hostile, intimidating and abusive educational environment" ever since the child started middle school in the fall of 2021.

The frequent bullying was physical — in the form of being "pushed, hit and shoved," the lawsuit states — as well as emotional, as the now-eighth grade student's gender and sexual orientation were targeted. The harassers also mocked the student for being "disabled," the Bergen Record reported.

The Central Regional School Board held its first meeting since a 14-year-old girl took her own life days after a brutal attack in the school hallway. NBC New York's Ida Siegal reports.

The student has had to miss school due to the bullying and requested to be taught from home earlier in 2023, the newspaper stated. The alleged bullying behavior was reported to the district multiple times but still continues, and was met with "willful indifference" from administrators and other professionals, court filings state.

It marks the second lawsuit of its kind filed against the district. Both claims echo concerns raised after the suicide of Adriana Kuch, a freshman at Central Regional High School who was allegedly harassed and assaulted prior to her death.

The school district said it cannot comment on pending litigation.

Both lawsuits also support what other students and parents said during a board of education meeting is a "culture of bullying" within the district. In February, scores of people — including past and present students, as well as parents — lined up one-by-one to express their rage and fear to the school board.

Each one of them mentioned the same thing: Fixing the problem.

"You need to make a change, now. That girl should still be alive, she shouldn’t have had to take her own life," a former student said to applause from the audience.

Video showing a brutal hallway attack on Kuch by other students surfaced online and quickly circulated throughout the school community. Two days later, Adriana died by suicide, her family finding her inside their home.

Kuch's father, who has loudly vocalized his frustrations with how the school handled his daughter's case, says that footage, a mere 50-second clip, drove her to suicide.

"She was on the floor blacked out and you guys didn’t do nothing about it. You guys could’ve prevented that," a friend of Kuch's told the school board. "She made numerous reports about how she was being bullied and you guys sat there and did nothing.”

Another girl cried as she remembered Kuch, calling her "such a sweet girl. She was bullied and harassed and mocked after her death."

Adriana Kuch's death has sparked a domino effect of sorts as the community -- and now much of America -- reels. News 4 has obtained the footage (below). WARNING: Some may find it disturbing.

News 4 obtained the Central Regional High School fight video. WARNING: Some may find this disturbing to watch.

In the first few days after the 14-year-old took her own life, students engaged in a day-long walkout to protest their administration -- and many of their parents were there to support them. Four students allegedly involved in the attack were suspended indefinitely, then criminally charged.

More than a dozen bikers added their support to the anti-bullying campaign at Central Regional High School, honking their horns as they passed protestors chanting, "She matters!"

While still mourning their classmate, students have said the problem goes even beyond what happened to Adriana. Some students have said they also contemplated suicide after being viciously bullied at the high school, as others recalled similar scarring experiences, being told by other students that they should kill themselves. Some said they felt scared to even walk in the hallways.

Parents said it is a culture of violence and bullying that has been going on for decades.

The tales of bullying from students come after a mother claimed her son was beaten so badly four years ago when he was a student there that he suffered brain damage and broken bones. Her son was transferred but still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, she says.

She claimed another student and his father were responsible --- and both were arrested afterward. Now the mother of that student -- and the wife of his father -- sits on the school board.

More videos have surfaced of other bullying incidents at the high school. A video from 2022 shows a girl, with her arm in a sling because of a shoulder injury during a wrestling match, getting attacked. That student's mother said she had to send her daughter to an out-of-district school after her attackers were suspended for just 10 days.

In another attack from the same year, the victim also had to be transferred out.

A former superintendent has already resigned amid the fallout, parents and students say they want the new interim superintendent to resign as well. That new interim superintendent previously said the district had been following state law in its anti-bullying efforts, and they would do more to prevent it in the future. But he insisted bullying was not the norm.

"Based on our data alone it doesn’t indicate that we’re a culture of violence. We don’t condone that," said interim superintendent Douglas Corbett.

Superintendent, Triantafillos Parlapanedis, resigns abruptly after his response to the suicide of 14-year-old Adriana Kuch. Brian Thompson reports.

If you or someone you know needs help, please contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling 988, call the National Suicide Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting ‘Home’ to 741741 anytime.

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