Bullied Teen’s Loss After Troubling Video Rattles New Jersey School District

Parents and students in a New Jersey school district have been shocked.

A 14-year-old local girl killed herself after she was beaten and filmed at school, leading to charges against the underage perpetrators and the resignation of the superintendent who, at first, tried to smear the victim.

Horrifying Superintendent’s Reaction to Deadly Bullying

Andriana Kuch, a Central Regional High School freshman in New Jersey’s Berkeley Township, committed suicide. This was two days after she was viciously attacked by four girls at the school who also filmed the beating.

The School District Board of the Central Regional High School said its superintendent, Dr. Triantafillos Parlapanides, resigned. The district vowed to investigate its own “anti-bullying policies” to “protect” its students, as cited by The Daily Mail.

The superintendent’s resignation from his job, which pays $190,000 a year, comes after days earlier he attempted to smear the bullying victim.

Parlapanides ranted about how Kuch’s father had an affair when she was in the 6th grade and then married his lover, bringing the girl to live with them.

The district’s top official also claimed that the girl was offered “drug rehab and mental services” five times, but her father turned them down. As he was caught by a Daily Mail reporter sneaking out of the school after his resignation, the former superintendent stated there was “nothing more to say.”

He had been questioned on his earlier comments, which seemed like an attempt to shift the blame to the underage bullying victim.

Parlapanides stepped down after parents rallied outside the Central High School with protest signs. These signs were against the district’s “shocking lack of sensitivity” in the aftermath of the suicide caused by the brutal bullying.

The protesters also complained about the administration’s failure to protect students from various cases of bullying.

Charges Raised Against Underage Bullies

On Saturday, local prosecutors said the four students who are suspected of bullying Adriana Kuch had been charged.

In the 20-second video that went viral on social media, the 14-year-old girl was hit with a water bottle in the school hallway. She was brought down and then repeatedly kicked and punched, while her hair was being pulled.

Bystanders were laughing at her together with the attackers.

The four suspects were suspended indefinitely from the high school. However, the prosecutors in Ocean County, New Jersey said one of the attackers had now been charged with aggravated assault and would be tried as an adult.

Two others have been charged with conspiracy to perpetrate aggravated assault and a fourth got charged with harassment.

According to Michael Kuch, the victim’s father, his daughter’s suicide was prompted by the beating video’s posting on TikTok; it attracted further online bullying and countless hateful comments.

He said the school district didn’t make sure his daughter got medical aid and didn’t notify the police immediately.

Michael Kuch disputed the now-former superintendent’s claims that all four bullies got suspended on the day of the attack on her daughter, saying three of them were at the school the next day.

The bereaved father said he wanted to prevent other kids from experiencing what his daughter went through.

This article appeared in Mainstpress and has been published here with permission.

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