Acting Super Corbett Denies a ‘Culture of Violence’ at CRHS
BERKELEY TWP. – Acting Superintendent Doug Corbett stood at a podium here in Central Regional High School and denied that a culture of violence exists at the sprawling suburban school.
Some parents diagree, and point to a rash of events as evidence.
Adriana Kuch took her own life earlier this month after getting violently ambushed at the school in a hallway during school hours.
Sophomore Olivia O’Dea told CBS News: “I went through physical assault in the same school when I was a freshman, and the humiliation, the bullying.”
Her parents said the school did nothing.
“They need to wake up,” her father, Sean O’Brien, told reporters outside the school on Wednesday.
Tonight, the Board of Education will hear from the public at its first scheduled meeting since Adriana Kuch’s suicide.
Corbett spoke to the media at the high school in the lead up to the board meeting.
“I disagree with that,” he said, when asked if a culture of violence exists at Central Regional High School. “That has not been my experience. Based on our data alone, we are not a culture of violence. We don’t condone that. I don’t want to argue with parents… [but] I do not agree we have a culture of violence.”
Corbett took over as acting superintendent last week following the resignation of Dr. Triantafillos Parlapanides, who in public comments appeared to pin the blame on Ms. Kuch in the aftermath of her death.
Today, the acting superintendent told reporters that the school is determined to work with police, and the county prosecutor’s office as it reviews its bullying and other relevant protocols to comply with all state laws and prescribed procedures.
As the school community scrutinizes what went wrong, Corbett rattled off some suggestions for how Central Jersey Regional High School can improve.
He mentioned organizing a steering committee to update the district’s approach to bullying.
He wants an outside party to review the district’s policies, especially its cellphone policies.
He wants, possibly, more student assemblies on the subject at hand.
He talked about examining the possibility of establishing a toll free hotline that students can call if they feel threatened.
He also wants to explore guest speakers and education information sessions to help students, faculty, parents, and staff recognize at-risk students.
He wants more frequent communications.
“These are just a few examples and ideas we look forward to developing,” Corbett told reporters.
He added, for the benefit of the parents, “We are listening. … [We] need to understand social pressures that lead to incidents [like the attack of Adriana Kuch].”
The acting superintendent would not speculate on the specifics of the case in question, as it is an ongoing police investigation; not would he comment on the status of the assailants, who filmed their attack of Ms. Kuch.
He said Central Jersey Regional High School has police on patrol in the building and security cameras.
“We are focused; we will not stand still; we are listening and I will update everyone on action plans and progress,” said Corbett, who expressed his deepest sympathies for the family of Ms. Kuch.
Time to fire the acting superintendent and school board president for covering up a bully induced murder. Given the number of former student witnesses that have come forward to give their stories of being bullied and assaulted in this school is an indictment of the education system in New Jersey–started with the NJ DOE and the NJEA. The NJ schools are nothing more than slave plantations, with their Marxist Communist racist agendas and agendas sexualizing children instead of teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, US & World History, biology, chemistry, physics, English literature, etc. Alternatives must be immediately put in place where property taxes can give parents alternatives on where to school their children, such as charter schools, private schools, homeschooling, parochial schools, etc.
Now is the time for property tax owners to demand that the education tax portion of their property tax bill be de-coupled and be funded solely by income and sales taxes–where everyone would pay their FAIR SHARE. Now, that would be equitable, wouldn’t it?