Source: NBC New York
The students at Central Regional High School in Bayville walked out of their classrooms over the suicide death of 14-year-old Adriana Kuch.
Video posted to social media last week showed several students viciously attacking Kuch as she was walking with her boyfriend in a school hallway. She was found dead at home by her family on Feb. 3 after taking her own life, police said.
Her father Michael Kuch believes that bullying drove his daughter to suicide. His daughter had been taken to a nurse — not the hospital — even though she blacked out and had bruising over much of her body. He thinks he knows what led to his daughter’s death: “The two girls didn’t like each other for a couple of years, and she had been threatening my daughter online.”
Mr. Kuch is livid that police weren’t called after the school attack. “A kid is assaulted with a weapon and their policy is not to call the police or file a report!” On social media, he wrote that he took his daughter to the police after the incident, adding that if an investigation began then, the videos could have been discovered immediately and taken down.
Rather than demanding they go back to class, parents were seen supporting their children. “I’m so proud of them — the school can finally see that something needs to be done,” said Denise Valez, the mother of one of the students. Local pizzeria owner Tony Fevola brought some pies with a strong message of support inside, but police wouldn’t let him cross to the line of kids.
Adriana seemed to have been an especially loved student. A neighbor shared video from last summer when girl appeared to be drowning in her backyard pool — that’s when Adrianna jumped in to save the little girl. “She was like a daughter to me, she was at my house almost every day,” said neighbor Roxanne Gattuso.
“It was a felony assault. They don’t file a report, that’s obstruction of justice,” he said. “They’re absolutely refusing to protect our children. Why would anyone want to send their kids there?”
The school superintendent has since resigned. Four students have been suspended indefinitely, and formally charged with aggravated assault, harassment and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.