Parents worried after more instances of bullying revealed at New Jersey high school
BERKELEY, New Jersey (WABC) -- New instances of violent bullying among girls at a school in New Jersey has been revealed, a week after a 14-year-old girl took her own life after she was attacked by four classmates.
Tatiana Artis and Nevaeh Olivo have not been back to Central Regional High School for three days.
They say 14-year-old Adriana Kuch, who died by suicide after being attacked, was their friend. Olivo admitted she would have not stood by had she been there.
"I would have helped her, wouldn't have let her get beat up," Olivo said.
The Central Regional School District accepted the superintendent's resignation over the weekend and says it is evaluating all current and past allegations of bullying which has drawn attention to other fights that have been recorded at the school.
One mother, Rachel O'Dea, hired an attorney. One video shows her daughter getting hit by another student.
"One girl held her book bag and struck her and the other one continued to strike her and the third one recorded it," O'Dea said.
"It's humiliating to have to not only go through that and the after the fact still be bullied," O'Dea's daughter Olivia O'Dea said.
The punches in the video were thrown by Olivo. Her father is now angry, saying Olivo responded with violence because she was threatened.
"When she texted me and said she was going to fight me the bell rang and it was going into the next period and I saw her in the hallway," Olivo said.
"They passed each other in the hallway and she called my daughter a fat (expletive)," Olivo's father said.
"I can't let her hit me first, she's bigger than me, she'll beat me up," Olivo said.
It's these online fights and threats that are out of hand. In an Instagram live, Artis claims O'Dea is heard being the instigator against a 12-year-old friend. Artis says she was then the target.
"She was just like, 'what's up, I want to fight you,' and two teachers that were there, they didn't say anything, they were just like, calm down," Artis said.
Eyewitness News reporter Toni Yates asked both parents about the responsibility of the parents, and the school to know what's happening in the hallways and online.
"I have never seen any of this video or messages," Rachel O'Dea said.
"If us parents were called, and we could've talked as adults with our kids there, her daughter would've never been on video, somebody recorded it, that's what kids do, my daughter would've never hit her, my daughter was defending herself," Olivo's father said,
The girls told Toni Yates that anyone who goes to the administration is considered a snitch so, the bullying stays out of hand.
It doesn't get any worse than a child deciding that it's too much to live with.
If you are experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises please call or text the new three-digit code at 988. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org.
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