‘Willful ignorance’: Mom says bullying, ignored by school, led to daughter’s death

BURLINGTON COUNTY, N.J. (PIX11) -- Elaina LoAlbo offers a simple description of what she said was the Mount Holly School District’s response to her on-the-record complaints about her daughter being bullied.

“Willful ignorance. She would come home crying on a regular basis. We had gone to the school several times. My daughter was notorious for writing her own emails,” said LoAlbo.

A student found Felicia unconscious in a school bathroom stall in February.

Her mother, speaking Thursday at her attorney’s offices--now the plaintiff in a lawsuit against the district with school Superintendent Robert Mungo, Middle school Principal Daniel Finn, and Guidance Counselor Terry Convery all specifically named among the defendants.

“She was relentlessly verbally abused by obscene and crude references targeting her gender, her ethnicity, and her perceived sexual orientation – age 11. She was told multiple times by multiple classmates to ‘go unlive yourself,’” said LoAlbo family attorney Diane Sammons.

Mount Holly resident Anna Moore said her son was also bullied at school years ago in another district before she pulled him out and home-schooled him.

She describes an experience that left her feeling helpless to help her child.

“My condolences to the family that lost their child over bullying. This is serious. They need to really take care of this situation,” said Moore.

The school district website features an extensive anti-bullying policy, but our email to the Mount Holly District’s Anti-Bullying Specialist went unreturned in time for this report.

Mungo did not return our email, so we paid him a visit to his office. He told us the district’s attorney has LoAlbo’s civil lawsuit, which seeks monetary damages.

Mungo went on to say he had not yet seen the suit and then politely offered a no comment to all of PIX11 News’ questions – including those about allegations of a district-wide culture of bullying that still exists to this day.