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An elite New Jersey boarding school has admitted that ‘more should have been done’ after a student took his own life in his dorm room following a year of bullying by his peers.
Jack Reid, 17, attended The Lawrenceville School, between Trenton and Princeton, where tuition is $76,000 a year.
He died on April 30, 2022, but in the 12 months leading up to his death he had become the victim of a vicious bullying campaign that consisted of cruel and malicious rumors that labelled him as a campus rapist.
The rumors were made up by fellow students and were said to Jack both in person and posted anonymously online thereby spreading the story beyond the campus walls.
During a secret Santa gift exchange among his classmates, Jack was given a rape whistle together with a book about how to make friends.
Jack Reid, 17, a student at Lawrenceville School in New Jersey took his own life after being bullied by other students both in person and online
Although school staff were made aware of the bullying, the school has now admitted make an extraordinary admission of failure on the anniversary of Jack’s death.
‘There were steps that the School should in hindsight have taken but did not,’ the school wrote in a lengthy statement.
Most damning of all is the fact the school did not make a public or private statement that it had in fact investigated the rape and found the rumors about Jack and the entire story to be completely untrue.
Neither Jack not his parents were ever told that he had been exonerated over the claims.
The school’s officials have now admitted that they were aware of the bullying, but fell short in their obligation to protect him.
In a frank, honest and heart-wrenching admission the school, which ranks among the nation’s top boarding schools, believes Jack’s death could have been prevented and stated how ‘there also were circumstances in which the involvement of an adult would have made a difference.’
Tuition a The Lawrenceville School, located between Trenton and Princeton in New Jersey $76,000 a year and is said to be one of the top ten boarding schools in the country
‘As we seek to improve as a community, we have examined our role and take responsibility for what we could have done differently. Lawrenceville’s top priority is the physical, social, and emotional health, safety, and wellbeing of our students. We recognize that in Jack’s case, we fell tragically short of these expectations,’ the statement read.
‘Jack was universally regarded as an extremely kind and good-hearted young man, with an unwavering sense of social and civic responsibility and a bright future. We continue to mourn this loss,’ the school wrote in the statement noting how a settlement had been reached with his parents, William and Elizabeth Reid.
The agreement requires the school, which hosts 830 students, to undertake a series of corrective actions, including creating a new dean’s position that will focus on mental health issues, with the goal of becoming a model for anti-bullying and student mental health.
‘We think bullying, with the 1,000 times echo chamber of the internet and everybody knowing, is much more devastating to kids and, in Jack’s case, produced a very impulsive act,’ Jack’s dad, William Reid, said
‘We feel like we both have life sentences without the possibility of parole,’ Jack’s mother, Dr. Elizabeth Reid, a clinical psychologist, said to the New York Times.
‘The only thing I’d love to change here is to get Jack back. I can’t. I do know if he were alive, he would want me — both of us — to try to make something good out of this and honor him in the way he lived his life.’
‘We think bullying, with the 1,000 times echo chamber of the internet and everybody knowing, is much more devastating to kids and, in Jack’s case, produced a very impulsive act,’ dad, William Reid said.
‘He had to escape the pain from the humiliation he was feeling.’
The school explained how after a student who previously had been disciplined for bullying Jack was expelled for an unrelated violation of school rules, Jack was allowed to return the school but was left largely unsupervised where students gathered.
‘Some harsh words were said about Jack,’ the school revealed adding that administrators did not notify or check on Jack once he was back on campus.
Later that night, Jack, who was a Dean’s list student, took his own life, telling a friend that he could not go through the ordeal again.
He had a bible in one pocket of his gym shorts, as well as a note directing his parents to a Google document, in which he described his helplessness.
The school has since released a statement recognizing the failure of the establishment to protect Jack ,noting how inaction by school staff contributed to his death
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Stephen Murray, the head of Lawrenceville School
‘The School acknowledges that bullying and unkind behavior, and actions taken or not taken by the School, likely contributed to Jack’s death,’ the Lawrenceville School wrote.
‘We acknowledge that more should have been done to protect Jack.’
Following his suicide, the school’s board of trustees hired the law firm Petrillo Klein & Boxer to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death.
The investigation included interviews with 45 students, faculty members, and others, together with a review of more than 100 emails from students and school personnel, Jack’s personal emails, phone records, text messages, and internet searches.
‘We said from the beginning, ‘Let’s seek the truth and follow it where it leads us. Period,’ ‘ Stephen S. Murray, Lawrenceville’s head of school, said to the New York Times. ‘And that’s what we’ve tried to do every step of the way.’
He added: ‘This happened on my watch and I’m grief stricken. And yet I can’t begin to compare that to the grief and sorrow of Bill and Elizabeth Reid.’
The school say they are to introduce ‘meaningful changes that will support the School’s aspirations of becoming a model for anti-bullying and student mental health.’
The settlement agreement and the school’s admission of responsibility are aimed at honoring Jack, taking appropriate responsibility, and instituting meaningful changes that will help prevent something similar from happening again.
The admission by Lawrenceville School is particularly rare with educational establishments not usually publicly accepting responsibility after a suicide.
The Reids hope that something good can come out of their son’s death by raising awareness about bullying, mental health, and suicide prevention.
While at Lawrenceville, Jack was recognized as a leader by his peers and served as President of Dickinson House (one of the residential homes at the school).
He also ran on the cross country and track teams and loved singing in choir groups.
Before attending Lawrenceville, Jack had attended The Buckley School in New York City where tuition starts at $58,500 a year.
If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.
