10-Year-Old Bullied to Death

On April 8th, News went out about a 10-year-old girl named Raniya Wright, who had died after a classroom fight in Forest Hill Elementary, South Carolina on March 25th. Raniya’s friends say that her bully had been baiting her into a fight that caused her to hit her head against the bookshelf before dying.

On the same day of the News, Ashley Wright, Mother of Raniya Wright, went air on “Good Morning America”. The mother of the 10-year-old said she had complained to Forest Hill Elementary School in the past about the girl involved in the altercation.

“I notified the school and I also spoke with her teacher at the time about the same person,” she told the morning show. “She would just always come home saying this one girl was picking on her”. Mrs. Wright told the teacher about how the mother was leaving it on the teacher’s hands to do something about it, but when Raniya got home, she said her teacher did not do anything about the issue.

Mrs. Wright also told Good Morning America she had been complaining about the girl since her daughter was in the fourth grade. Raniya’s grandmother, who gets the kids ready for school while Mrs. Wright is working, said Raniya had been asking to stay home from school the last couple of weeks.

“My frustration is really towards the school system because I sent my child to school feeling like she can be protected while she’s not in my care anymore,” Mrs. Wright said. Though school officials have released sparse details about the circumstance leading to Mrs. Wright’s daughter’s death, Ashley Wright said “My daughter’s classmates told me the bully had been bothering Niya all day, wanting to fight her.”

“They were in the class,” Mrs. Wright said “The girl came up behind her and was hitting her all in the head. How long? I don’t know. The bully pushed her or rammed her head into the bookshelf.” “Raniya had no prior health issues,” Ashley said. School officials said there were no weapons involved in the fight. A student was suspended, but are unclear if the student was involved in the fight.

The school nurse called her around lunchtime, Ashley and the nurse said that Raniya had “been in an accident, a fight.” She was okay, the nurse told Ashley, but she was complaining about dizziness and having a headache, Mrs. Wright recalled. Ashley did not get a call back when Raniya’s condition worsened. Mrs. Wright Arrived at the hospital to find her daughter unresponsive and hooked up to machines.

“I had to sleep by my baby the night before she passed, and that was the hardest thing i ever had to do in my life,” She said “It’s just hard.”

Officials said they stopped the fight, and Raniya was taken to the school nurse’s station. She was unconscious when the paramedics arrived, and they took her to a nearby hospital, according to a sheriff’s report. She was later airlifted to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, where she died two days after the fight.

Margie Bright Matthews of Walterboro said she’s spoken to the officials including the substitute teacher in charge and wanted to correct rumors surrounding Raniya’s death.

“I’ve heard a lot of student say, ‘Oh, they were kicking her. They ganged her.’ None of that is true. That’s so from the truth, not even the banging of her head was mentioned. The head was not even an issue,” she said.

Dozens of mourners stood outside a South Carolina church as the horse drawn carriage with Raniya’s casket arrived Wednesday for a celebration of life at Walterboro’s Saints center Ministries. “Your wings were ready, but our hearts were not,” said a message on the carriage’s window.