Dozens of central New Jersey high school students walked out this week in a statement of solidarity and support for the family of a classmate who took her life a day after she was beaten up in a school hallway and video of the incident was posted online.
News 12 New Jersey said that three girls were charged with third degree assault in the attack on 14-year-old freshman Adriana Kuch, and a fourth was charged with disorderly conduct.
School officials said no one called police.
“I don’t believe a police report was done. We normally just suspend. If a parent wants to press charges they can with the police. But we’re not going to double-whammy a kid where they are suspended and then police charges as well,” School Superintendent Triantafillos Parlapanides said.
According to the Berkeley, New Jersey, Patch, four girls were suspended after the fight. One of them was Adriana Kuch.
Michael Kuch, Adriana’s father, told WABC the school’s “policy” was woefully inadequate.
“My daughter actually blacks out and they don’t call an ambulance, they take her to the nurses office,” Kuch said.
Kuch said it wasn’t the first time his daughter was bullied and that had the school taken bullying seriously, she might still be alive.
My daughter’s never been in a fight before, she’s 98 pounds, 5’2” and she loves everybody,” Kuch said.
In the February 1 incident, Adriana was hit in the face with a full water bottle three times. The attackers kicked and punched her and pulled her hair while other classmates laughed and recorded the “fight.”
“They think it’s fun to attack people and take videos and post them,”Kuch said. “Getting hit with a water bottle didn’t hurt Adriana, what hurt her was the embarrassment and humiliation, they just kept coming at her.”
Students marched outside Central Regional High School for two and half hours on Wednesday. What they wanted, they said, was “Justice Now,” the Patch reported.
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[Featured image: Adriana Kuch/handout]
