After a 14-year-old girl who was cyberbullied committed suicide, a New Jersey school district says it will allow officials to search the contents of students’ cellphones under a new electronics policy, NJ.com reported.
Adriana Kuch was attacked and bullied in a school hallway by classmates. The incident was recorded by students on their cellphones and then spread via social media.
Kuch, who attended Central Regional High School in Berkeley Township, was found dead at home two days after the Feb. 1 assault, the New York Post reported.
Adriana’s beating and the online circulation of a video of the attack led her to take her own life, her father said, calling her suicide a direct result of repeated harassment.
After her death, four of her classmates were charged in connection with the hallway attack.
In the weeks following Adriana’s death, dozens of students, alumni, and parents alleged bullying in the Central Regional School District, including cyberbullying, harassing messages, videos, and photographs were widely shared on TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram.
At least three lawsuits have been filed against the school district over claims that officials failed to investigate on-campus harassment and bullying of students, the New York Post reported.
In response to the accusations, Central Regional’s middle school students will be required to place their phones in cellphone pockets in classrooms. The phones will remain in the storage pockets until the end of class, and students will no longer be able to take their cellphones to the bathroom during class time.
Students can put their phones in the storage pockets during instruction time, but can keep their phones in class as long as they are turned off and put away.
Central Regional’s new policy says school officials can search a student’s phone “if there is reasonable suspicion that district or Board policies, rules or regulations have been violated, as well as if there is a reasonable suspicion that the electronic mobile device contains information that may be pertinent to a school investigation.”
Many other school districts in New Jersey have similar policies, NJ.com reported. Some parents have objected to the cellphone rules, saying their children will not be able to get to their phones in an emergency.
Searching student phones, laptops, or other personal property for evidence that a student is violating school rules is legal, NJ.com points out, but the New Jersey School Boards Association advises officials to “exercise discretion in deciding to conduct a search.”
School districts in New Jersey reported 30,568 incidents of violence, vandalism, weapons, substance use, and harassment, intimidation, and bullying during the 2021-22 school year, according to the latest data from the state Department of Education, NJ.com reported.
Peter Malbin ✉
Peter Malbin, a Newsmax writer, covers news and politics. He has 30 years of news experience, including for the New York Times, New York Post and Newsweek.com.
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