NEW JERSEY — New Jersey has a major bullying problem, better known as bullyingreveals a recent study by WalletHub.
How big is New Jersey’s problem? Well, according to WalletHub It is among the 5 states with the greatest problem of bullying.
The Garden State ranked No. 4 among 48 states, including the District of Columbia. (According to the study, due to data limitations, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington were not included in the ranking).
New Jersey’s overall ranking is due to the scores it received in three specific categories:
Prevalence of bullyingImpact and treatment of bullyingLaws against bullyingNo. 7No. 4No. 26
New Jersey was also among the first states to appear in a key metric. New Jersey ranked fifth for the percentage of high school students involved in physical fights after school.
It is possible that the WalletHub ranking may not come as a surprise to many given a series of recent high-profile harassment incidents.
Earlier this year, the death by suicide of 14-year-old Adriana Kuch, a high school student in Berkeley Township, shocked an entire community, state and region. A video posted on social media showed several students brutally attacking Kuch as she walked with her boyfriend down the school hallway. Two days later, on February 3, she committed suicide at her home.
Kuch’s death sparked an outpouring of overwhelming support for his family and friends, as well as an outcry from the community to do more to prevent a similar outcome. At a meeting after the tragedy, dozens of students and parents, one by one, stood in front of a microphone to address what they call a “culture of bullying” within the school where the freshman was attacked in a hallway and tormented on social media days before taking her own life. The protest led to the director’s resignation.
In another heartbreaking incident, an 11-year-old girl also took her own life as a result of the bullying she suffered.
On February 6, Felicia LoAlbo-Meléndez’s body was found in the bathroom of her elementary school in Mount Holly. Her death was ruled a suicide by hanging. It happened two weeks after her father died of pancreatic cancer.
After the tragedy, her mother, Elaina, told our sister station NBC10 that she reported the harassment to administrators four times in person. She also said her daughter sent about a dozen emails to her school counselor, including one just four days before her death.
Following an investigation into the girl’s death, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office closed the case. Office investigators said security footage showed Felicia was alone inside the bathroom and determined there was no criminal act.
When it comes to other states in the region, both New York and Connecticut ranked on the lower end, according to WalletHub listing. New York ranked 39th out of 48 states and Connecticut ranked 35th.
Although both states ranked much lower than New Jersey, they have also been affected by bullying cases.
In New York, for example, the parents of a 13-year-old Long Island student said their daughter was bullied and discriminated against by her classmates to the point that she considered taking her own life, but they say the school district failed to do so. nothing to avoid it. address it.
They are the third family to make these types of claims recently against the same district. The father of another girl said he planned to sue the district for $2 million after seeing an online video of his daughter being beaten in a hallway attack. He claims the school was negligent in failing to prevent or stop the assault.
Meanwhile, earlier this year in Connecticut, the city of Greenwich agreed to pay $5 million to the parents of 15-year-old Bart Palosz, who took his own life on the first day of his sophomore year in high school after being bullied in the public school system. The boy was harassed for years and more than 25 complaints were filed. His parents asked the school district for help.
If you or someone you know needs help, please contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling 988, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting the word “Home” to 741741 at any time.
2023-10-17 02:20:45
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