The superintendent of a New Jersey school district has resigned after he appeared to try pinning the blame of a young student’s suicide, who had a history of being bullied at school, on her difficult family situation and alleged history of drug use.
Adriana Kuch, a 14-year-old freshman at Central Regional High School in Berkeley Township, committed suicide just 48 hours after a video of her being bullied and assaulted at school appeared online.
In response to questions from news outlets about whether Kuch received support from the school before she took her own life, New Jersey Central Regional School District Superintendent Dr. Triantafillos Parlapanides remarked they “tried helping her several times” but argued the past suicide of Kuch’s mother was a “major reason” Kuch “started making poor choices.”
“After her mother’s suicide since her father was having an affair at the end of her 6th grade. Her father married the woman he had an affair with and moved her into the house,” Parlapanides reportedly responded to The Daily Mail. “Her grades and choices declined in 7th and 8th grade. We offered her drug rehab and mental services on 5 occasions but father refused every time.”
The teen’s father, Michael Kuch, contested the superintendent’s claims that the school had offered his daughter any drug counseling to TheDailyMail.com. Rather, he told the outlet that he and his wife had sought help for Adriana’s marijuana use, which he noted was common among students at the school.
“I don’t know how to respond to this insane deflection,” Michael Kuch reportedly told TheDailyMail.com in response to the superintendent’s remarks. “This guy is a piece of s***.”
Parlapanides’s comments to the British newspaper and during other interviews reportedly caught the eye of Central Regional School District’s board of education, which indicated over the weekend that it had accepted his resignation.
“The Central Regional School District is evaluating all current and past allegations of bullying,” the district wrote in a statement posted to its website over the weekend. “The District has contacted the Department of Education and will undergo an independent assessment of the District’s anti-bullying policies and ensure every necessary safeguard is in place to protect our students and staff.”
Additional incidents of bullying at the school have since surfaced, and students have begun protesting.
“Central Regional School District is working in conjunction with the Berkeley Township Police Department to ensure school safety and that appropriate additional safeguards are in place,” the district’s statement continued. “The District recognizes and appreciates the public’s right to protest. However any protests cannot disrupt school services during school hours; protests can be properly organized adjacent to school property while school is in session.”
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