Felicia LoAlbo-Melendez was found unconscious on February 6 at FW Holbein in Holly Mountain and died two days later. Her mother said an 11-year-old New Jersey girl who died days after a suicide attempt in a high school bathroom was brutally bullied and reported the bullying to school officials.
The Burlington County Attorney’s Office said the girl was found unconscious in the bathroom at the FW Holbein School in Mount Holly on February 6 and died two days later.
The girl’s mother, Elaina LoAlbo, said Felicia LoAlbo-Melendez had been abused for years.
LoAlbo didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Friday but told NBC Philadelphia that her daughter was regularly teased by her classmates.
They called him hairy. He wasn’t a furry. They called him gay. They called him straight. They said to him. They called him all kinds of things.
My daughter was tortured within the walls of that school,” she added. LoAlbo said Felicia and her mother raised concerns about the bullying but were ignored.
The mother said she had personally reported the abuse to Holbein officials four times and sent nearly a dozen emails to her school counselor in the last four days before her daughter died. NBC Philadelphia.
“He tells his teachers about him. Teachers have witnessed many of the bullying and physical arguments that occur in classrooms and on field trips, LoAlbo told NBC Philadelphia.
LoAlbo said the girl’s death occurred two weeks after her father died of pancreatic cancer. The Burlington County Attorney’s Office said on March 29 that its “investigation, which included a review of school security cameras, determined that he was alone in the bathroom when this tragic event occurred. The investigation also determined that there were no fouls.”
Prosecutors said they would accept the mother’s request to see the footage.
Mount Holly Township School District superintendent Robert Mungo said the school system cooperated with the prosecution in the investigation. “Our district has suffered a loss that continues to be a heavy burden on the school community. “School counselors and administrators, with support from the Burlington County Schools Crisis Response Team, have and will continue to increase access to students and staff and will be ready to help them process this latest information as they continue to grieve.”
Mungo did not directly comment on the allegations of bullying but said the district is focused on “strengthening our support system for students, particularly in relation to students’ social and emotional well-being”, and is committed to “making our schools safer for all.” students. ”
LoAlbo told NBC Philadelphia that it plans to take legal action.
“My next step will be for no other parent to fight like me and for no other child to suffer like my daughter,” she said.
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