Tuesday, 30 Apr 2024

Mother of Raniya Wright, Who Died After Fight, Says School Failed to Protect Her Daughter

The mother of Raniya Wright, the fifth grader who died after a fight at her South Carolina school, said on Monday that another student taunted her daughter into a physical altercation on the day of the fight and that she had previously told the school her daughter was being bullied.

The mother, Ashley Wright, told “Good Morning America” that Forest Hills Elementary School in Walterboro, S.C., about an hour west of Charleston, did not do enough to protect her daughter.

“I notified the school, and I also spoke with her teacher at the time about this same person,” Ms. Wright said about the student, a girl, who she said had been “picking on” her daughter. “I’m thinking, ‘They got it handled,’” she said. “And they failed me.”

Ms. Wright said in the interview that she talked to students about what happened on March 25, the day Raniya, 10, was taken to the hospital unconscious but breathing. Ms. Wright said she was told the girl approached Raniya from behind and hit her on the head.

“She pushed her and she rammed her head or something into the bookshelf,” Ms. Wright said, adding that a substitute teacher in the classroom may have been distracted. “The other kids said she was on her phone,” she said.

The student involved in the episode has been suspended until the investigation is completed, according to the Colleton County School District’s website.

The superintendent of the district, Franklin Foster, denied Ms. Wright’s accusations on Monday.

“We adamantly disagree with any claim that we did not do enough to protect Raniya,” Mr. Foster said in a statement. “We work hard every day to protect all of our students. In time, the facts regarding this tragic incident will be revealed.”

Mr. Foster declined to provide any further details, citing a pending law enforcement investigation and student privacy laws.

Shalane Lowes, spokeswoman for the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office, declined to comment on Monday, citing the open investigation.

An autopsy was performed at the Medical University of South Carolina, but the authorities said it would be a few weeks before the results would be made public.

Raniya’s death, and how the school handled it, has angered and aggrieved the community and spurred parents and state lawmakers to grapple with violence in the classroom.

Legislators in South Carolina have proposed measures that would address how schools report and investigate bullying, and the state plans to increase the number of mental health professionals in schools.

Raniya’s family said it had received little information from officials about how she died.

“I had to sleep by my baby the night before she passed and that was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life,” Ms. Wright said.

Last week, Raniya’s white coffin arrived in a white carriage led by two white horses at Saints Center Ministries in Walterboro, where hundreds of mourners attended her funeral.

Raniya’s fourth-grade teacher, Debi Price, told The State newspaper that she remembered how Raniya “took care of people.”

“She brought laughter into my classroom every day,” Ms. Price said.

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