Adriana Kuch, a freshman at Central Regional High School in Berkeley Township, took her own life following a premeditated bullying incident involving four of her schoolmates. Photo / via Facebook
Adriana Kuch, a freshman at Central Regional High School in Berkeley Township, took her own life following a premeditated bullying incident involving four of her schoolmates. Photo / via Facebook
WARNING: Article deals with violence and suicide
Four students have been charged after a recorded attack against a 14-year-old New Jersey student in the hallway of her school spread on social media in the days before her family says she took her own life, prosecutors said on Saturday.
One juvenilewas charged with aggravated assault, two were charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and one was charged with harassment, prosecutors in Ocean County, New Jersey, said.
All four juveniles and their guardians were given copies of the complaints and they were released pending future court appearances, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said in an email on Saturday.
Adriana Kuch, 14, committed suicide after a physical fight at school. Parlapanides blamed her suicide on her drug use and her father’s "affair". Photo / NBC News
The family of Adriana O. Kuch found her body on Februarty 3, two days after her beating beside school lockers at Central Regional High School in Bayville, her father has said.
In an interview with WNBC-TV, her father, Michael Kuch, said Adriana had been hit with a 0.56-litre water bottle. She received care from the school nurse after the attack left her with bruises and wounds. “I do know why it happened,” he said. “It happened because these two haven’t liked each other for a couple of years, and she had been threatening my daughter online.”
Superintendent Triantafillos Parlapanides submitted his resignation. Photo / NBC News
Meanwhile, the school superintendent who appeared to blame the family of Adriana for her death has resigned, according to a report.
Triantafillos Parlapanides, the head of the Central Regional School District, submitted his resignation after an emergency school board meeting on Saturday, NBC reported.
Parlapanides tried to shift blame for Adriana Kuch’s February 3 death to her family, claiming her father’s “affair” and her own drug use was causing turmoil in her life, the New York Post reported.
He revealed personal family information to the Daily Mail, telling the outlet the girl’s father, who was widowed, was having an affair when Adriana was in sixth grade and that the youngster’s “grades and choices declined in 7th and 8th grade”.
”We offered her drug rehab and mental services on five occasions but the father refused every time,” he said.
Michael Kuch denied his daughter had been offered drug treatment and said she had merely been experimenting with a weed vape like other teens.
After students at the high school participated in a walkout on Wednesday, Parlapanides wrote in a letter to parents that the protest interfered with “the learning process” and future “rallies” will need prior approval from the administration.
”I spoke with the student protesters in front of the school on Wednesday and offered to sit down and meet with them to discuss their concerns,” said the prosecutor, Billhimer, who was at the high school again on Friday to meet with protest organisers for more than two hours.
Billhimer said he discussed ways to improve the district’s response to school “incidents” during a meeting on Saturday with Parlapanides.
”I also shared some suggestions regarding staff changes as well as programming and services to respond to the needs of the students,” Billhimer wrote.
Adriana was born in Toledo, Ohio, and moved to Bayville seven years ago, according to her obituary. She was described as an animal lover and a girl who helped children with special needs.
