Mount Holly school system under investigation after student suicide

Federal authorities have opened an investigation into complaints that a South Jersey school district violated the civil rights of students, including an 11-year-old girl who committed suicide after her family said she was mercilessly bullied by classmates.

The complaints allege Mount Holly School System in Burlington County for discriminating against students on the basis of race, national origin, sexual orientation and gender, Philip R. Sellinger, the U.S. attorney in New Jersey, wrote in a letter to the district last month. He did not specify how many complaints were received.

Sellinger said the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Division is investigating how the Mount Holly district handled allegations that students harassed their peers and whether federal laws protecting students from discrimination were violated. Such investigations are not uncommon, but are rarely disclosed publicly while a case is ongoing.

The investigation came to light after district attorneys recently tried to delay proceedings in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by a family Felicia LoAlbo-Melendez died in 2023,. based on the allegation that a sixth-grade student asked for protection from her classmates at ul FW Holbein Schoolbut the school authorities did nothing about it.

In a petition filed this month with the Supreme Court, Jeffrey P. Catalano, a lawyer representing the school district, cited the federal investigation in seeking a delay in the civil case. A copy of Sellinger’s letter was included as evidence. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on the case.

In his motion, Catalano asked for a 90-day postponement of the wrongful death lawsuit, arguing that it would be a challenge to pursue both cases simultaneously. He said the district “wholeheartedly denies” that the federal investigation will grant the loan any truth to the allegations made by Sellinger in his letter. Catalano did not respond to Tuesday messages seeking comment.

“We have not reached any conclusion.”

The letter from Sellinger and Junis L. Baldon, assistant U.S. attorney for the Civil Rights Division, said investigators cast a wide net of information, records and documents beyond the allegations made in the LoAlbo-Melendez case. Federal authorities may visit the district to interview students and staff, they say.

The letter demanded disaggregated data on all alleged victims and people accused of abuse. She also asked for policies and procedures to be put in place to address student harassment, bullying and intimidation at Holbein, as well as two other elementary schools in the district, John Brainerd and Gertrude Folwell. She also requested a list of employees responsible for enforcing the rules.

“The information and documents will assist us in objectively assessing these allegations and determining what action, if any, may be warranted,” the letter said. “Our investigation into the allegations is preliminary and we have not reached any conclusions as to whether any violations of federal law occurred.”

Mount Holly Schools Superintendent Robert Mungo did not respond to phone and email messages seeking comment. The wrongful death lawsuit names Mungo, the principal, counselors and teachers, accusing them of failing to protect the girl.

Diane Sammons, employment lawyer Nagel Rice at Roseland who filed a lawsuit on behalf of the company LoAlbo-Melendezthe mother said she was contacted by parents of other students in the district who made allegations their child was abused. The federal probe supports her contention that the district is in trouble, she added.

“It’s so obvious that this is an issue that permeates the entire district,” Sammons said Tuesday. “He’s bigger than Felicia.”

“What problems allowed this to happen?”

11-year-old was found unconscious on February 6, 2023, at the school on Levis Drive. Two days later, “she died of her injuries, cradled in her mother’s arms,” ​​the lawsuit says. The medical examiner ruled her death a suicide.

The lawsuit says the girl, described as a compassionate and bright student who skipped the class, was very active in extracurricular activities at the school. As a member of the Random Acts of Kindness Club, she was an anti-bullying advocate.

She The lawsuit says he experienced “a long, persistent period of abuse that occurred during the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years.” The lawsuit says she was harassed and intimidated because of her physical appearance, Latino roots and “perceived sexual orientation.”

The lawsuit says that in the weeks before his death, students taunted the child to “outlive himself.” The lawsuit said she was called ugly in class and was subjected to ethnic slurs and other offensive names.

She wrote letters and e-mails to school officials and proposed starting a “trauma club” for herself and other students who had been bullied. School officials promised to change the girl’s schedule to minimize contact with her alleged abusers, but never did, the lawsuit says.

» READ MORE: Her 11-year-old daughter died by suicide. Now this South Jersey mother is fighting for stronger anti-bullying laws in schools.

Sammons, who is seeking punitive damages for the family, believes incidents of abuse at Holbein are under-reported and not properly investigated. He wants better enforcement of New Jersey’s anti-bullying laws, which are already among the toughest in the country.

“What problems allowed this to happen?” she asked.