Global Courant 2023-05-01 21:57:26
This story may contain details that are disturbing. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
A New Jersey private school said Monday it “tragically” fell short of “expectations” to ensure the safety and well-being of a student who committed suicide a year ago.
Jack Reid, 17, died in a dorm on campus, just outside Trenton, on April 30, 2022, after experiencing “bullying and other forms of cruel behavior” at the boarding and day school, the Lawrenceville School said in a Monday statement.
“Lawrenceville’s top priority is the physical, social and emotional health, safety and well-being of our students. We recognize that in Jack’s case, we tragically failed to meet these expectations,” the school’s statement said. “Jack was subject to bullying and other forms of cruel behavior in Lawrenceville over the course of a year, including in the form of false rumors in person and online.”
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Jack Reid, 17, died in a dormitory on campus just outside Trenton, New Jersey, on April 30, 2022, after experiencing “bullying and other forms of cruel behavior” at the boarding and day school, The Lawrenceville. The school said in a statement on Monday. (The Jack Reid Foundation)
The school added that when that “conduct was brought to the attention of the school, there were steps the school should have taken in hindsight but failed to take, including the fact that the school has not made any public or private statement that it has investigated and found rumors about Jack that were not true.”
Reid’s parents, Elizabeth and William Reid, described their son in a statement to Fox News Digital as “a happy and well-adjusted teen with a strong support system that included his friends and devoted family.”
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“He loved his school and his community and treated others with kindness and respect. He had a bright future. We hope no other family suffers such a great loss,” they said.
The Reids told The New York Times that their son’s college experience started off well, until an unfounded rumor circulated in the spring of 2021 that he was a rapist.
Elizabeth and Bill Reid told The New York Times that their son’s college experience started off well, until an unfounded rumor circulated in the spring of 2021 that he was a rapist. (Google Maps)
When he returned to school after summer break in September 2021, the rumor persisted, despite the fact that Reid had been elected president of his sorority called the Dickinson House. His parents believe the election has embittered some of his peers, and they continued to spread the rumor, they told the Times.
The rumor was posted on a social media app popular among boarding school students days after Reid was elected president of the dormitory, and Reid said the bullying continued to spread rapidly online. The 17-year-old was given a rape whistle and a book on how to make friends as a Secret Santa gift that year, his parents told the Times.
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“Dad, will this ever pass?” William Reid remembered his son asking for it. “Will it ever get off the website?”
William Reid told the Times that he and his wife think bullying is “much more devastating to kids,” especially when compounded with the “echo chamber of the internet and everyone who knows it.” In his son’s case, he said, the bullying caused “a very impulsive action.”
He had to escape the pain of the humiliation he felt.
“He had to escape the pain of the humiliation he felt,” William Reid told the newspaper.
The Lawrenceville School hired an outside law firm to investigate Reid’s death.
The Lawrenceville School hired an outside law firm to investigate Jack Reid’s death. (Google Maps)
On April 30, the day Reid died by suicide, a student who had been disciplined for bullying Reid was expelled for breaking school rules in an unrelated incident. Lawrenceville “allowed him to return to Dickinson House largely unattended, where students congregated, including some who uttered harsh words about Jack,” the school said in its statement, which was negotiated as part of a settlement with the Reid family. reported the Times.
“School administrators did not notify or check on Jack. That night, Jack took his own life by telling a friend he could not go through this again,” the statement continued. “The school recognizes that bullying and unfriendly behavior, and actions taken or not by the school, likely contributed to Jack’s death.”
The school has since made efforts to improve training and education programs, home culture and healthy socializing, disciplinary protocols, and general health and well-being. It will also contract with a school bullying specialist, contribute to the Jack Reid Foundation created by his family to help prevent bullying, hire a Campus Welfare dean, and take other steps to prevent a similar tragedy in the future. prevent, the Lawrenceville statement said.
We never imagined that our lucky child could be induced to take his own life.
“And we believe that if this can happen to our son, it can happen to anyone,” the Reids said. “The harmful effects of bullying and cyberbullying need to be taken more seriously. Jack’s school has acknowledged that in hindsight steps should have been taken in response to the bullying, and that it will implement a comprehensive plan to combat bullying on campus.”
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The suicide rate in the US rose in 2021 after two consecutive years of declines in 2019 and 2020, especially among communities “disproportionately affected” by the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic “exacerbating pre-existing inequalities in suicide risk,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Reid Foundation, which aims to “create a model to address this pressing crisis and save children’s lives,” accepts donations.
Audrey Conklin is a digital reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business. Email tips to [email protected] or on Twitter at @audpants.
