The parents of an 11-year-old girl who died days after attempting suicide at a Connecticut middle school are suing the town and its Board of Education , arguing that the district’s alleged failure to enforce anti-bullying procedures was a “substantial factor” in their daughter’s death. In a claim filed against the town of West Hartford and the board, Johnny Gaiter and Lisa Thomas allege that West Hartford Public Schools employees were “long aware” that their daughter, Jade Gaiter , had been “subjected to months of bullying at Bristow Middle School” before she attempted to take her own life in a bathroom of the school on Dec. 1, 2021.
Gaiter “was kept alive by artificial means for the following 12 days” until she died on Dec. 12, 2021, from “excessive loss of oxygen to her brain, brain swelling and pressure, and asphyxiation,” the lawsuit states. Gaiter’s parents claim that just two weeks before their daughter attempted to take her life, the school’s principal, Chad Ellis, allegedly was aware that “Jade (Gaiter) was told to kill herself” and that Gaiter experienced bullying “including derogatory name calling (and) gay shaming,” according to the complaint filed with Hartford Superior Court.
The parents also allege that on Nov. 18, 2021, Assistant Principal Jacqueline Colon violated the Safe School Climate Plan for Anti-Bullying by failing “to document the threats of physical violence to Jade (Gaiter) and/or the name calling and arguments th.
