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Who is Hailie Engesser? Adriana Kuch's friend slams authorities at board meeting, says school 'could have prevented' her death

Dr Douglas Corbett addressed the issues in an unclear fashion regarding how he plans to ensure that a tragedy like this doesn’t happen again

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

BAYVILLE, NEW JERSEY:  A highly tensed board meeting took place at the Central Regional School District for the first time since Adriana Kuch, 14, took her life earlier this month for getting severely harassed and bullied at school. The parents and classmates are now asking questions if the tragedy is going to bring any real change.

Hundreds of parents, students, and community members attended the meeting in the Ocean County school, seeking answers from the officials on how the incident unfolded and why no or sufficient actions have been taken to prevent bullying. Hailie Engesser, a 9th grader and a friend of Kuch, told the board about the existing bullying culture that has been prevalent at the school for quite some time now. 

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“It’s actually really, really hard "

“It’s actually really, really hard to be going to school because of all the bullying and everything that’s been going on,” she said according to New York Post. “I’m still grieving over Adriana. It’s been really hard. But it’s the fact that you didn’t notify the police about that or about Adriana. She was on the floor blacked out. … You guys could have prevented that. 

Hallie continued, "[Adriana] already reported numerous reports about how she was being bullied, and you guys just sat there and did nothing." 

Other victims speak out

Roman Velez, a 16-year-old sophomore said on Thursday, February 16, that he has become dead from the inside after hearing the racist comments continuously hurled at him in school. “I have been called multiple racist things, multiple slurs, to the point where if I hear [them], I don’t bat an eye. I’m used to it,” he said. Velez said the officials were “swept under the rug" despite reporting about the incidents several times in the past. Another student Echo McNichols came forward with her version of bullying of being followed around the school track. She said when she was with her sister, "they told me I was ugly and fat and that I should kill myself, they sent us pictures of guns and told us they knew where we lived and they were going to send people to our house to come rape us," according to NewJersey 101.5. 

“I know multiple people who’ve been sexually assaulted at this school and … the school just does not care. And this proves that you guys do not care, because I have made multiple reports to the school, to guidance, to the office, to everywhere, and it’s just been ignored and swept under the rug, and we’re tired of that,” Velez continued. “When people ask me what my experience at Central Regional is, it’s not, ‘I went to CR.’ It’s ‘I survived CR,’ because coming to the school, it’s like being in a prison.” 

Another victim, Junior Milo Luga said that she gets harassed “every day” since seventh grade because she is gay and disclosed that the bullies had posted her photo on social media. “I’ve been to mental hospitals, and I’ve been suicidal, and I’ve self-harmed in the past because of what happened to me in the school,” she said.  Luga claimed that her mother has informed the school “on so many occasions” and spoken to “everyone single person you can think of,” including the superintendent, but “was never given any genuine help.”

“I’ve just been told to ignore it, to be the bigger person, walk away,” she said, adding that the bullies have never been punished strictly for their actions. “The people who have made fun of me are still here. I don’t know what happened to them. They can’t tell me.”

The meeting reportedly began with a moment of silence for the teenager who committed suicide on February 3. The rowdy crowd voiced their anger at the board as they moved through regular business. “We don’t care about your agenda, we want to get to what we’re all here for!” one woman screamed.

Board President Denise Wilson, who conducted a board vote to appoint new superintendent Dr Douglas Corbett to replace former superintendent Triantafillos Parlapanides, threatened to shut down the meeting. Parlapanides resigned on Saturday last week, February 11.

“No no no!” one person shouted. “What’s his background?” another yelled. “If you can’t take the heat you shouldn’t be on the board!” cried one spectator as Wilson begged the audience to let them get through the vote.

Crystal Mayo, of nearby Toms River, addressed the board of her niece. She said that her niece had to leave the school because she was getting bullied badly every day. “It shouldn’t take a child taking her own life for us to change. It should never get to that point,” she said. “A child should never have those thoughts. A child should be able to enter a school and feel safe. We should be teaching our children tolerance and love and respect. Everybody’s different.”

She added, "You talked about the policy being a state policy and you have no regards to change it — Well, why aren’t you speaking up if you think it’s wrong? Why are you being silent?” “Why am I hearing that the policy hasn’t changed in 30 years? Students that were bullied 30 years ago, and it’s still the same today,” she continued, to loud applause from the audience.

What did the new superintendent say?

Dr Douglas Corbett addressed the issues in an unclear fashion regarding how he plans to ensure that a tragedy like this doesn’t happen again at a press conference. “I think the biggest problems we’ve had is communication, and one of the things that I’m definitely going to do better is to communicate the good things that we’re doing, the services that we provide, the responses that we already have in place, so parents mostly, most importantly the students, understand that we’re here to help always.” Corbett added that “there’s a range of consequences” that can take place for those who will continue to harass and bully other students. 

“What we can speak to and I think what can be aggravating at times, is of course consequences follow but I can’t tell the victim’s parents what those consequences are.” He however denied the allegations made by other parents and classmates that there was an ongoing culture of violence at the school. 

“That has not been my experience at all. Based on our data alone it doesn’t indicate that we’re a culture of violence. We don’t condone that. We actually do everything in our power to dissuade that. I don’t want to argue with parents that I’ve never had a productive and positive conversation with but no I’m sorry I don’t agree that we have a culture of violence.”