RaNiya with her mother, Ash Wright.Photo: GoFundMe
The mother ofthe South Carolina fifth-grader who died late last month after a classroom fighthas opened up toABC News, and said she notified school officials on several occasions that her daughter was being bullied.
RaNiya, a Forest Hills Elementary School student, died two days later at the Medical University of South Carolina, succumbing to the injuries she’d sustained in the fight.
At a press conference last week, RaNiya’s father, Jermaine Van Dyke, demanded answers from school officials, saying they’ve yet to brief him on the fight or what precipitated it.
Ashley Wright said she’d complained about the bullying “numerous times,” but that school officials failed to address the matter.
Like her husband, she has gotten little information from school officials, mostly learning what happened to her daughter that day through conversations with RaNiya’s classmates.
“I’m very upset with the school system, starting out, only because of the fact that I’ve been complaining about the person that she fought numerous times to them,”Wright said in the exclusive interview. “That’s what really breaks me down and makes me question to myself why nothing was never done up until now with this happening. I’m thinking they got it handled, and they failed me.”
The bullying began last year, she told ABC.
“I’ve been having problems with her since fourth grade,” Wright said, referring to the student who she says was involved in the fight. “I can’t speak about third, because I’m not sure, but I’ve been hearing her name before she got in the fifth grade.”
Wright also said that in recent weeks, RaNiya repeatedly asked her mother if she could stay home from school.
“She did not want to go to school these last couple of weeks,” Wright said. “I felt like the situation at school was getting worse.”
No weapons were involved in the incident, police said.
“This was a physical altercation that took place between two fifth grade students at Forest Hills Elementary,” Colleton County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Shalane Lowes wrote in an email to PEOPLE.
Lowes said the case is active and no arrests or criminal charges have been made.
However, a student from the Walterboro school has been suspended until the investigation is complete, according to the school district’s press release.
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Wright told ABC News she’s also frustrated with the police, who haven’t been forthcoming about their ongoing investigation.
“My frustration is really towards the school system because I sent my child to school feeling like she can be protected while she’s not in my care anymore,” Wright said.
source: people.com
