The former New Jersey school superintendent who resigned last weekend amid a bullying scandal is still being paid, officials said.
Dr. Triantafillos Parlapanides resigned as head of the Central Regional School District on Feb. 11, after sparking outrage by giving an interview about the tragic suicide of 14-year-old student Adriana Kuch that accused her of drug use and her father of infidelity.
At a fraught school board meeting Thursday night, board attorney Christopher Dasti said Parlapanides was “still being paid.”
Dasti’s admission, which was captured on video by a photographer for The Post, prompted an immediate outcry from the students, parents and other community members in the audience.
“He resigned!” one unidentified woman protested.
“Where do I get that job?” another mocked.
The revelation about Parlapanides’ paycheck was just one of several dramatic moments at the meeting, the area’s first since Adriana’s death sparked a public reckoning about the district’s ongoing bullying problem.
“You guys are a disgrace,” one unnamed local woman told the school board members during the heated proceedings.
“You guys should all f–ing resign, every single one of you.”
When faced last week with questions about the failure of Central Regional High School to respond to the assault on Adriana and similar incidents, Parlapanides told a reporter the teen was abusing drugs and claimed her family history was troubled.
“[Adriana’s] father was having an affair at the end of her sixth grade. Her father married the woman he had an affair with and moved her into the house,” the administrator blabbed in an email to the Daily Mail.
“Her grades and choices declined in seventh and eighth grade. We offered her drug rehab and mental services on five occasions but the father refused every time.”
Parlapanides callously doubled down on the shocking allegations when he claimed that Adriana’s birth mother, Brandy Kuch, also took her own life.
“We tried helping her several times but mother’s suicide was a major reason she started making poor choices,” he said.
Brandy Kuch died in 2016. Her obituary does not indicate the cause of death, but there is no other indication that she died by suicide.
In the wake of Parlapanides’ statements, Adriana’s heartbroken father, Michael Kuch, immediately denied that his daughter had a drug issue, and said she had simply been experimenting with a weed vape like other teens.
“My daughter was attacked in your school and you did nothing. And now you want to blame this on everyone else except yourself because you failed and you suck at your job,” he told The Post in response to the official’s heartless remarks.
“The superintendent slandering people, bashing people. Calling Adriana a drug addict. What is wrong with this guy? He is incompetent.”
One day later, Parlapanides tendered his resignation.
The reason he continues to receive his salary remains unclear. When reached for a comment on Friday afternoon, the district declined to comment, citing a “personnel issue.”
Christopher Dasti did not immediately return The Post’s request for a comment.
News of Parlapanides’ ongoing pay comes shortly after Michael Kuch’s attorney announced that the family intends to sue the district for failing to address the bullying that they believe led to Adriana’s suicide.
“The administration’s role in Adriana’s tragic death will be brought to light, and Mr. Kuch will use every legal avenue possible to get to the truth, for his family and the community,” attorney William A. Krais said Friday morning.
In his earlier statements to The Post, Kuch already vowed that he would not rest until the administrators whom he blamed for his daughter’s death were removed from their posts.
“I want that entire administration gone,” he insisted.
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Ex-NJ superintendent still being paid after bullying suicide scandal - New York Post
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