Background: WABC YouTube screengrab shows the father of Adriana Kuch, Michael Kuch Sr./Inset: Adriana Kuch (family photo)
A family has sued a school district in New Jersey alleging officials did nothing to tamp down a “culture of violence” at their daughter’s high school, ultimately leading to her vicious beating, humiliation and suicide at just 14 years old, a lawsuit reviewed Tuesday by Law&Crime alleges.
Adriana Kuch, 14, died by suicide in her bedroom in February 2023 and her family, led by her father Michael Kuch, alleges this happened because she was victimized on multiple fronts. She suffered “distress, humiliation and embarrassment” after a group of female students descended on her in a hallway at Central Regional High School and viciously attacked her.
Then, she was cyberbullied as video of the attack circulated on social media.
Adding insult to injury, the 25-page civil complaint also claims that just a week after Adriana Kuch’s funeral, the superintendent of Central Regional School District spoke to reporters and erroneously claimed that Michael Kuch was having an affair. That alleged defamation also included the claim that when Kuch’s daughter was in the sixth grade, he married his mistress and moved her into the house.
Michael Kuch claims the superintendent, Triantafillos Parlapanides, defamed his family outright, and also wrongly suggested Adriana Kuch struggled with drug abuse when he responded to an email from a reporter at The Daily Mail.
“The mom killed herself two years ago. The girls that assaulted her were friends with her but thought she had laced the marijuana they had smoked together. The father is very upset and lost his only child so sometimes you just have to eat the s— sandwich,” an email from Parlapanides stated, according to the lawsuit.
Kuch says the school district did nothing to help his daughter’s mental health under the poor conditions at the school and that the superintendent “invaded” his privacy with his derogatory and false remarks.
They never bothered to call police after she was attacked on Feb. 3, 2023, either, the family claims, although the school has said that calling the police after an attack isn’t a given, according to NBC News,
In addition to the superintendent, the family has also named as defendants, the Central Board of Education, the school principal and a slew of administrators that Michael Kuch says knew that bullying was out of control at the New Jersey high school.
At least three of the girls involved in the attack on Adriana Kuch have been charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. The fourth alleged perpetrator was only charged with aggravated assault, per NBC.
The Ocean County, New Jersey, prosecutor Bradley Billhimer did not immediately return Law&Crime’s request for comment.
An attorney for the family, however, described the events as “gross negligence of school officials” compounded with the superintendent’s “cruel” commentary.
“They 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,” the family’s attorney William Krais told NBC Monday.
