NJ school officials were aware of a 'culture of violence' among students before Adriana Kuch committed suicide: lawsuit
New Jersey school administrators "catastrophically failed" 14-year-old Adriana Kuch, an attorney for her family said.
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- Family of 14-year-old Adriana Kuch, who died by suicide after being bullied, has filed a lawsuit.
- Kuch's family sued a school board, alleging administrators were aware of a "culture of violence."
- Kuch was attacked by students in school and died by suicide after a video was posted online.
The family of bullied teen Adriana Kuch, whose tragic suicide made headlines last year, has sued a New Jersey school board alleging that administrators were aware of a rampant "culture of violence" that ultimately led to her death.
The civil lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey on Monday, says that years before 14-year-old Kuch was attacked by students in the halls of New Jersey's Central Regional High School on Feb. 1, 2023, there existed a "culture and climate of harassment, intimidation, and bullying" at the school. That culture included "physical assaults and attacks by students of students," the lawsuit says.
Kuch died by suicide two days after she was attacked. Video of the assault had been posted to social media. Four teens have been charged in connection to the incident.
The teen's family says school district officials "knew or should have known" that attacks within their schools, specifically Central Regional High School, "were being recorded and posted to various social media sites by other students, contrary to School Board policy."
The lawsuit, which names the Central Board of Education, the Central Regional High School's principal and other school officials as defendants, alleges negligence and accuses them of failing to protect Kuch.
"It is the defendants' job to provide a safe and secure environment for the students at Central Regional High School," Kuch family attorney William Krais said in a statement.
Krais said the defendants "catastrophically failed Adriana, leading to the emotional distress, humiliation, and embarrassment that ultimately caused her to take her own life. It's high time the school and those involved are held accountable for their actions."
Central Regional School District superintendent Michelle CarneyRay-Yoder told Business Insider in an email Monday that the district had not been served with a copy of the lawsuit and "has not yet had an opportunity to review it."
"Accordingly, we cannot comment at this time. Further, since this would be a matter involving litigation, the Board will be limited in what it can comment on publicly," CarneyRay-Yoder said.
The lawsuit also accused the school's former superintendent, who is also named as a defendant, of defamation and violating the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act over "egregiously false statements" made to reporters in the wake of Kuch's death about her and her family.
The lawsuit says that on the day of Kuch's funeral, the then-superintendent emailed a reporter, saying that Kuch's mother died by suicide after her father had an affair. In the same email, according to the lawsuit, he also tried to shift blame toward the family for what he called ignoring Kuch's "bad choices" years earlier.
"The father is very upset and has lost his child so sometimes you just have to eat the shit sandwich," the then-superintendent said to another reporter, according to the lawsuit.
Kuch's father, Michael Kuch, said in a statement: "Adriana was the light of our lives, and one year after her horrific and needless death, we are still waiting for justice."
"It's clear this school has a serious bullying problem that none of the school administrators care to admit or address. But what's more troublesome and hurtful are the incredibly rude and insensitive comments from" the school's former superintendent "when our family was at its lowest point," the father said.
"How someone could make such false and careless remarks when our daughter had just died is beyond me," he continued.
The school's former superintendent could not be reached for comment by Business Insider on Monday.