The parents of a 13-year-old Long Island student said their daughter was bullied and discriminated against by her classmates to the point where she was considering taking her own life, but say the school district did nothing to address it.
"This has been a nightmare," said Antoinette Moore-Thomas, alongside her husband Gregory on Thursday.
The source of the family's nightmare has been the alleged bullying of their daughter at Reed Middle School in Central Islip.
"They would say they’re gonna jump her, beat her up at the school. Come to her house and beat her up," said Moore-Thomas. "They would call her names like she’s a monkey, they would call her the N-word, they would tell her she’s ugly."
The mother said racial slurs were also part of the bullying by three or four girls that went on for over a year. Text messages from their teen capture the alleged bullying, the parents said, and how it drove their daughter to both question her race — and threaten suicide.
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In one message, their daughter said she’s upset because she's Black, then writes "I’ll go away so you wouldn’t have to deal with me anymore."
The parents said they weren't sure what else to do, so they filed a complaint with the school. They said they visited school officials 20 times, but little was done.
"Going to the school and bringing this to them and asking for help is like talking to brick, because I am getting nowhere," the father said.
Now the teen’s parents have filed a notice of claim, the first step in the process of suing the Central Islip School District.
"They can’t keep sweeping it under the rug. They have to do something," Moore-Thomas said.
In response to the legal action, a statement from Central Islip said that "the district undertakes all reasonable measures to safeguard its students. The district has several anti-bullying and tolerance promoting initiatives in effect."
They are the third family to make such claims against the district in recent weeks. The father of another girl said he planned to sue the district for $2 million after seeing video online of his daughter getting pummeled in a hallway attack. He claims the school was negligent in failing to prevent or stop the assault.
"I just want her to be protected and stricter judgment for these kids, so it won’t happen," Ezra Hoyte said previously. "I can’t be there to protect her, and that’s why I’m kind of afraid, and she’s afraid to go back to school."
The attack inside the halls of Central Islip High School on March 17 was captured on cellphone video and later shared on social media. In the clip, a 14-year-old girl is seen getting thrown to the floor by another student, who then starts hitting the victim in the face. The attacker continues to strike her as the teen tries to get away down the hallway.
"When I saw the video on social media, I was even more infuriated because I noticed my daughter didn’t have any help," said Hoyte. "You can see her — disoriented, looking for help, running around the corner. So I was sad and upset."
Suffolk County police said that the teen suffered minor injuries in the attack, which Hoyte called unprovoked. Police confirmed that the 14-year-old alleged attacker was arrested for assault. Hoyte said that his daughter hasn't been back to school since the violent incident, and may never return.
"I was expecting her to be protected when she goes to school, so there’s no reason why this happens," said Hoyte.
Central Islip schools previously declined to comment on the incident citing the pending lawsuit. But in a statement, the district said in March it "seeks to avoid the consequences of student altercations by proactive approaches to establishing a school climate free of physical engagements."
It also comes following bullying claims from a New Jersey high school. In one incident at Central Regional High School in Berkeley Township, video — which also was shared on social media, similar to the Central Islip attack — showed several students viciously attacking a 14-year-old student as she was walking with her boyfriend in a school hallway.
The victim in that incident, Adiana Kuch, took her own life at home just days after the alleged bullying incident in early February. Since that time, more allegations of bullying surfaced at the school, as parents and students voiced their frustrations. The incidents and emotional outcry led to the district superintendent's resignation.
