New Jersey Boarding School Admits Failing to Protect Teen Who Committed Suicide After Enduring Bullying and Sexual Assault Taunts

A year after 17-year-old student Jack Reid took his own life after being bullied at Lawrenceville School, the New Jersey boarding school admitted that they could have intervened more to stop this tragic occurrence. Reid reportedly committed suicide on April 30, 2022, after incessant bullying, including the spread of rumors that he was a rapist.

Reid began attending the $76,000-a-year private boarding school in Mercer County as a sophomore in 2020. According to his parents, the teen initially excelled in school, made friends, and made the Dean’s List. However, in Spring 2021, One student began spreading a rumor that Reid was a rapist, and this led to harassment from his peers. After an investigation into the bullying and sexual assault allegations, it was proven that the accusations of Reid being a rapist were untrue, but that did not stop the bullying.

Teen Commits Suicide After Being Falsely Accused of Being a Rapist

After the investigation, the unnamed student who initially made up the rumors about Reid was expelled for a separate incident, and lied to fellow students, telling them that Reid was to blame for his expulsion while he packed up without supervision. The bullying continued, with Reid receiving a rape whistle and a book on how to make friends while participating in Secret Santa. Reid was seeing a therapist, and sent his parents a Google Doc explaining his pain. The boy’s father, Bill Reid, told The New York Times, “He had to escape the pain from the humiliation he was feeling.”

The school was aware that the accusations against Reid were false and that he was the victim of severe bullying, but did not look into the case further. Lawrenceville School initially released a statement at the time of Reid’s death but did not disclose any of the information that was known about his bullying or the false allegations against him. The school board is finally taking responsibility for not doing more to help Reid and has just released a new statement a year after the teen’s death.

Lawrenceville School’s statement partially reads, “The school acknowledges that bullying and unkind behavior, and actions taken or not taken by the school, likely contributed to Jack’s death. There were steps that the School should in hindsight have taken but did not. There also were circumstances in which the involvement of an adult would have made a difference.”

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