NJ school where teen Adriana Kuch was bullied has disturbing past, critics say

Former teachers and students at New Jersey’s Central Regional High School — where taking her own life — claim CRHS has turned a blind eye to bullies for years.

The disturbing allegation surfaced along with a report that the Ocean County prosecutor met with school officials last week to discuss the school’s alleged failure to properly handle Adriana’s beat-down.

“There were days where I would break up three fights before homeroom even started,” Daniel Keiser, a former staffer who worked at the high school for two decades, recalled in a recent online posting.

“As a teacher there and a parent there who dealt with intense bullying, we would often plead with administration to get things under control, and only one of them ever tried,” he said.

“They were notorious for brushing things under the carpet.” 

CeCe Lane, a former student, wrote that teachers watched from the locker-room doors as she was once bullied and nearly attacked by another girl in the gym at the school in Bayville, about 10 minutes southeast of Toms River.

“They did not bother to help,” Lane said. “I know plenty of people that got bullied, fought, and humiliated, the school always looked the other way.”

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Adriana, 14, was brutally assaulted by four teenage girls in a school hallway in a caught-on-video attack Feb. 1. Cops were never called after the horrific assault.

The footage was widely shared on social media, and Adriana was tormented by hateful comments afterward.

She killed herself two days later, a tragedy her family blames on the school bullying.

Another teen at the school also has said that in January 2022, she was bullied and attacked in a hallway, with the assault videotaped and the footage later spread around online, as in Kuch’s case, according to Fox News.

That victim, who wasn’t named, sued the school in October, with her lawyer claiming she warned district officials before her attack that she was being threatened and harassed, yet “nothing was done.

“They didn’t call the police, they didn’t take it seriously, apparently, and sure enough these girls came through on their promise and assaulted my client,” lawyer Jonathan Ettman  told the outlet.

The school district’s superintendent, Triantafillos Parlapanides, has infamously appeared to try to blame Kuch’s suicide on her own family, claiming she was upset her dad had an “affair” and that she used drugs. He resigned Saturday.

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Parlapanides’s mother, reached by The Post at his home Monday, said her son wouldn’t be commenting. 

The superintendent’s resignation came three days after Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer met with school officials for two hours over Kuch’s case, Fox News Digital reported.

Billhimer told Fox that both sides discussed “ways to improve the district’s response to incidents within the school.”

The prosecutor, asked specifically whether the closed-door meeting included talk about when the school should notify cops of violence, replied, “I can say that certainly was a topic of discussion.

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“We discussed a number of things,” Billhimer said. “I’d like the opportunity to assist the school in implementing some of the suggestions I made, so for now I don’t want to comment any further.”

High school parent Jeff Riccardi wrote online that he’s glad Central Regional is finally feeling the heat.

“The truth is, aside from bragging about an anti-bullying policy, the school’s doing more to hide all the problems,” Riccardi wrote on Facebook.

He later told The Post that he thinks all schools have the same mentality.

“No one cares what happens until it’s your child,” he said.

Central Regional officials did not immediately respond to Post requests for comment on prior alleged bullying.

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Some Central Regional students have posted on Facebook that they were warned by school administrators not to protest or stage a “walk-out” over the handling of Kuch’s case and other alleged incidents of bullying unless they want to risk potential suspension or detention. 

The district put a statement on its Web site saying, “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 recognizes and appreciates the public’s right to protest. However any protests cannot disrupt school services during school hours.”