'They did nothing.' L.A. girl's death raises questions about darkest side of bullying at school - BERITAJA

Sharon Zavaleta Chuquipa struggles to slumber successful the room she shared pinch her younger sister. Every corner, decoration and artifact holds devastating small reminders of the 12-year-old whose life was abruptly trim short.

The condolences lies dense — arsenic does the guilt. At times, she says, it’s almost excessively overmuch to bear.

“I blasted myself,” she said successful Spanish, tears successful her eyes. “If she hadn’t gotten involved, she’d beryllium present pinch me.”

Feb. 17 was the time Sharon’s life changed forever. Her day began arsenic normal, pinch a group of bullies astatine Reseda Charter High School harassing her arsenic she headed to last period, she said. But things escalated erstwhile her small sister, Khimberly, stepped successful to take sides her and was struck successful the head pinch a metallic h2o bottle.

Khimberly underwent emergency encephalon room and was placed successful a medically induced coma aft being struck successful the caput pinch a metallic h2o bottle.

(Photo courtesy of Guy David Gazi)

Khimberly was taken to Valley Presbyterian Hospital successful Van Nuys, wherever she was evaluated, treated and released that aforesaid day, according to her family.

Three days later, awesome humor vessels successful her encephalon ruptured, her family said. She was rushed to UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, wherever she underwent emergency encephalon room and was placed successful a medically induced coma.

It was nary use. Khimberly died connected Feb. 25. The region aesculapian examiner has yet to merchandise an autopsy study pinch the girl’s origin of death.

The jarring calamity has led some, including Khimberly’s family, to mobility whether the Los Angeles Unified School District could person — aliases should person — done much to protect the girl.

“The schoolhouse has a batch to reply for, because, well, they did nothing,” her mother, Elma Chuquipa Sanchez, said successful Spanish. “Every azygous day, I would caput to the schoolhouse and I was location making a fuss [about ongoing bullying].

“But it was each for nothing,” she continued. “Now, my babe is gone.”

Khimberly’s mother, Elma Chuquipa Sanchez, center, and aunt Liz Trugman meet pinch a family lawyer connected April 9 successful Los Angeles.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

LAUSD is the second-largest schoolhouse territory successful the U.S., serving about 549,000 students astatine much than 1,500 different sites.

Students each twelvemonth are asked about their experiences pinch bullying, pinch the results compiled and released annually arsenic portion of the district’s School Experience Survey.

Students respond to questions about galore forms of bullying, including verbal, intersexual and internet-based harassment. During the past afloat schoolhouse year, 17% of mediate schoolhouse students and 6% of precocious schoolhouse students said they agreed aliases powerfully agreed pinch the connection that they had “been pushed, shoved, slapped, deed aliases kicked by personification who wasn’t kidding around.”

The responses astatine Reseda Charter High were successful statement pinch those of the territory arsenic a full — 18% of mediate schoolhouse students agreed pinch the statement, and 6% of precocious schoolhouse students agreed.

Data from the National Center for Education Statistics show that location has been a semipermanent diminution successful bullying astatine U.S. schools since the 2010s.

California, too, has seen each forms of bullying “dropping dramatically” successful the past 20 years, according to Ron Avi Astor, a bullying master and professor of societal use astatine the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. A study he co-authored recovered a 56% diminution successful fights astatine California secondary schools from 2001 to 2019.

Khimberly’s death, however, is simply a stark reminder of the devastating and disproportionate toll bullying could person connected students and their families.

“Schools are now much alert than they utilized to be, and there’s much interventions, there’s much programs,” Astor said. “I deliberation schoolhouse sites are very superior [about addressing bullying], because it could origin beingness harm and unfortunately, successful this situation, moreover death.”

He noted LAUSD faces much challenges tackling the rumor than different districts — pointing to the size and diverseness of its student assemblage arsenic good arsenic precocious rates of coach and administrator turnover.

Tanya Ortiz Franklin, an LAUSD committee member, said that though she is incapable to remark connected Khimberly’s lawsuit owed to pending litigation, she does not judge that bullying is simply a awesome rumor crossed the district.

“For the 1 family whose kid is being bullied, absolutely, it’s a immense problem,” she said. “But if you look successful the expansive strategy of half a cardinal children successful a metropolis that has a batch of diverseness that includes not conscionable different taste upbringings but besides different opinions about what is correct and what is wrong, you could expect a batch much conflict.”

Ortiz Franklin, who chairs the district’s School Safety and Climate Committee, said the highest rates of bullying and fights are seen astatine the mediate schoolhouse level, wherever students are still learning really to header pinch antagonistic emotions.

She noted that the territory had worked to reside this done caller measures specified arsenic a cellphone ban, which is intended not only to summation schoolroom attraction but besides to foster face-to-face narration building and a consciousness of community. She besides pointed to efforts to thatch societal and affectional learning, truthful students study really to process antagonistic emotions utilizing words, not violence.

There were 5,636 fights and different instances of aggression reported astatine L.A. Unified successful the 2024-25 schoolhouse twelvemonth and 5,707 successful the anterior schoolhouse year, according to data presented astatine a committee gathering successful November.

Between July 1 and Nov. 6, location were 1,786 incidents of fighting and beingness aggression reported connected LAUSD campuses — which translates to a complaint of 4.5 reported incidents per 1,000 students. There were 2,506 specified incidents reported during the aforesaid four-month play successful 2024, and 2,232 reported successful that model successful 2023.

These figures were pulled from the Incident System Tracking Accountability Report — an imprecise, but useful, metric that tracks instances of fights, drugs, threats and weapons connected campus. These reports are typically generated by schoolhouse administrators who person discretion complete what gets revenge but could look repercussions if an unreported incident later leads to problems.

Overall numbers and districtwide trends mean small to Khimberly’s family.

They opportunity bullying and beingness unit are an accepted portion of the civilization astatine Reseda Charter High and revenge a wrongful decease suit against the territory connected Monday alleging that the schoolhouse grounded to return reports of bullying seriously. The main did not respond to a petition for comment, and the territory spokesperson said it cannot remark connected pending litigation.

From left, Khimberly’s sister Sharon, aunt Liz Trugman, mother Elma Chuquipa Sanchez and begetter Jesus Alfredo Zavaleta Tafur meet pinch their attorney. The family has revenge a wrongful decease suit against the schoolhouse district.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

The family’s attorney, Robert Glassman, said that, since taking connected the case, his firm, Panish Shea Ravipudi, has been inundated pinch calls about bullying astatine LAUSD.

“Every day, including today, we get truthful galore calls from parents, mainly, but besides from immoderate teachers saying this is specified a pervasive pandemic astatine the territory that thing needs to get done,” he said.

Khimberly’s parents came to Los Angeles from Peru 5 years agone and enrolled their daughters successful LAUSD, hoping it would lead to a agleam early for their daughters.

Khimberly dreamed of becoming a doctor. She loved swimming successful their flat pool, riding her bike, playing volleyball and basketball, singing and drawing.

Khimberly Zavaleta Chuquipa, 12, was calved successful Lima, Perú.

(Soudi Jiménez / L.A. Times en Español)

“She was a very beautiful girl, very kind, and very overmuch loved by everyone,” her father, Jesus Alfredo Zavaleta Tafur, said successful Spanish. “It is specified a beautiful point to person been her father.”

Her mother said that the bullying of her daughters had been going connected for much than a year, and that she complained to the schoolhouse truthful frequently, officials knew her by name. Since Khimberly’s death, she said, respective different parents person travel guardant to perceive and stock stories of really their children had been tormented connected campus.

She said the school’s deficiency of action was what spurred her family to return ineligible action against the district. Six weeks earlier the Feb. 17 incident, the aforesaid group of students who attacked Sharon and Khimberly were filmed attacking different female student, according to the complaint.

The family alleges that Khimberly would still beryllium live if the territory had taken steps specified arsenic promptly documenting and investigating reports of bullying, disciplining the students who antecedently bullied Khimberly and Sharon and implementing anti-bullying measures astatine school. The family besides accuses the schoolhouse of failing to adequately unit and show the hallway area wherever the Feb. 17 incident took place.

A 12-year-old student was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department earlier this period connected suspicion of murder successful relationship to Khimberly’s death. The lawsuit remains nether investigation, and truthful acold nary charges person been filed, according to the L.A. County territory attorney’s office.

Chuquipa Sanchez hopes the suit will lead the territory to make meaningful changes truthful administrators will return early reports of bullying seriously.

“They waited until my girl died to yet return action,” she said. “It wasn’t adjacent that they [the bullies] continued going to schoolhouse and my daughters suffered. One had to alteration schools and we buried the other.”

Times unit writers Brittny Mejia, Ruben Vives and Howard Blume contributed to this report.