CV NEWS FEED // The family of a high school pro-life advocate who was verbally and physically assaulted by fellow students during a pro-abortion rally at her school last year has filed a complaint against the school, claiming negligent supervision, assault, battery, and defamation.
Teachers and staff at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in New Jersey organized a pro-abortion protest in May 2022 in response to a leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Despite the fact that protests on school property are against school policy, teachers and staff at the high school encouraged students to participate and even attended the rally themselves.
Nichole Pagano, a Catholic pro-life advocate who was 16 years old at the time of the protest, also attended the rally with her sister, peacefully holding a sign that said “Equal Rights for Babies in the Womb.”
When the 200 students at the protest saw Pagano, they chanted profanities at her, grabbed the sign away from her, yelled in her face, stomped on the sign, pulled her off a platform, pushed her to the ground, and scratched and hit her. Throughout the entire verbal and physical assault, high school teachers and supervisors watched and did nothing. They are now being sued for negligent supervision, while five students who directly assaulted Pagano are being sued for assault and battery.
After the protest was over, students took to social media to defame Pagano, posting vulgar comments about her on Snapchat and admitting to assaulting her. These students are being sued as well.
School superintendent Jeffrey Moore, who is facing a count of negligent supervision, said at a school board meeting that the protest was full of “distressing moments and aggression.” He also said that any students who showed physical aggression were removed, but videos of physical assaults on Pagano show otherwise.
The school’s handling of the protest was criticized by several who attended the school board meeting. They defended Nichole and her actions and blamed Moore and the supervisors at the rally for the assault.
Pagano said that though Moore and the school principal, Edward Brandt, apologized to her, the school said nothing else about the assault, and did not even let her family know. In an interview with the National Catholic Register, Pagano said that she encourages other high school students to defend the truth no matter what. “You’ve got to do what’s right,” she said. “Even if it’s sometimes hard to do, you go to do it to make a stand and make a point.”