A New Jersey school district superintendent Dr. Triantafillos Parlapanides resigned following the suicide of a bullied teen and several reports of on-campus assaults and social media bullying.
A lawsuit alleges that the deceased teenager, 14-year-old Adriana Olivia Kuch, was not the first to be harassed and assaulted at Central Regional High School. The incident supposedly happened one year before Kuch died on Feb. 3 via suicide.
New Jersey Superintendent Resigns
The latest tragedy has prompted calls for culture changes at the school where the victim studied, and her death has also inspired parent Rachel O'Dea to speak out. She gained the courage to talk about what her daughter experienced at the school.
In a statement, O'Dea, who was the one who filed a civil lawsuit against Central Regional School District, said that the fact that the incidents are continuing is a travesty. The parent said there was no accountability and no changes made following her daughter's death, as per NJ.com.
O'Dea works at the Mental Health Association in New Jersey, Inc. as the nonprofit advocacy group's deputy chief operating officer. Reports noted that Kuch killed herself on Feb. 3, only days after video footage showed her being assaulted by four classmates spread around the Bayville community, said the victim's father, Michael Kuch.
The footage showed an attack on Kuch while on school grounds and was recorded by students who observed the incident and shared the video on social media. All in all, the recordings showed that the incident lasted less than a minute.
On Saturday, New Jersey authorities noted that the four students involved in the incident have already been charged criminally. Also, this weekend, Parlapanides handed in his abrupt resignation.
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Adriana Kuch's Suicide
In a statement, the Central Regional School District Board of Education said it had accepted the superintendent's resignation. The incident comes only a day after Kuch's memorial service and after the victim's father criticized the district for failing to do more to protect her daughter's life and prevent bullying and harassment from permeating the school, according to Fox News.
On Friday, the father of Kuch said that he blamed the girls and the school and police personnel for the death of his daughter. He added that he wanted everyone to know what happened to the student, asking for justice and attention so that no one could ignore the situation.
One of the four students involved in the assault was charged with aggravated assault, two others were charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, and the fourth was charged with harassment. Following Kuch's death, students protested outside Central Regional High School, calling for justice.
Kuch, before committing suicide, was a hero to one mother in the local area after she saved the mother's daughter from drowning in a pool. In August, the deceased teenager rushed to aid a child who had swallowed water and started bobbing up and down in the pool in their backyard, said Roxanne Gattuso, the mother of the young girl revealed, said the New York Post.
Related Article : Adriana Kuch Suicide: 4 Students Arrested, Charged
