Chain
06-14-2004, 07:45 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/286-peoplescourt.JPG
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/201780p-174169c.html
Infamy for Horror High
Christina Bottex (left) and Jennifer Daly appear on 'People's Court'
A Brooklyn mom whose daughter was assaulted with a bat at Lafayette High School said yesterday she got so fed up with unresponsive school officials that she had to turn to "The People's Court" for help.
"I wanted the public to know how bad that school is," Cassandra Bottex, 37, told the Daily News.
Bottex's daughter Christina, 18, was knocked in the head by a bat-wielding classmate who lay in wait for her outside a basketball game in November after trouble simmered between them for 10 months.
"I cracked her over the head with the bat," defendant Jennifer Daly admitted to celebrity Judge Marilyn Milian on the show that was broadcast on May 24.
The one thing that both sides were able to agree on: Lafayette is a lousy place to go to school.
"Nobody cares about the education," Daly said on the show, which has become the talk of the school. "The students don't care, the teachers don't care. The principal - I don't even know if he cares."
Reached by The News, Daly declined to comment yesterday.
Milian told The News she was "mortified" by the case and by the failure of school officials to curb the problem.
"Not only are they not fixing it, they are causing it," Milian said, noting that the girls were kept in the same classes after they exchanged punches in the 2002-03 school year and again after the bat attack.
The once-proud Bensonhurst school has been besieged by violence in recent years, earning it the nickname "Horror High."
The U.S. Justice Department accused top school officials this month of looking the other way while Asian students were routinely harassed for years.
The racial fault lines that can lead to violence were again exposed on the TV show.
Daly, who is white and since has transferred to another high school, told the judge there were "a bunch of Negroes in the school."
"I'm Italian," Daly explained. "I don't get along with Negroes."
Department of Education safety czar Rose Albanese DePinto said the school followed all "proper protocols" with Bottex and Daly, who were both suspended for a time after the bat incident.
Lafayette is not the only school with problems, DePinto said.
The school has been working on conflict resolution and peer mediation to reduce acts of violence, DePinto said, insisting there has been a "tremendous change in the school culture and school climate."
But Christina Bottex, who was contacted by the show after her mother filed a civil suit against Daly in small claims court to get money for hospital bills and "pain and suffering," said nothing has changed.
"It's still exactly the same," Christina Bottex said.
Her mother was awarded $2,571 by the TV judge, which was covered by the show. She said she has no regrets about going public.
"I had to go out of that school to get help," Cassandra Bottex said. "It's like they don't care."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/201780p-174169c.html
Infamy for Horror High
Christina Bottex (left) and Jennifer Daly appear on 'People's Court'
A Brooklyn mom whose daughter was assaulted with a bat at Lafayette High School said yesterday she got so fed up with unresponsive school officials that she had to turn to "The People's Court" for help.
"I wanted the public to know how bad that school is," Cassandra Bottex, 37, told the Daily News.
Bottex's daughter Christina, 18, was knocked in the head by a bat-wielding classmate who lay in wait for her outside a basketball game in November after trouble simmered between them for 10 months.
"I cracked her over the head with the bat," defendant Jennifer Daly admitted to celebrity Judge Marilyn Milian on the show that was broadcast on May 24.
The one thing that both sides were able to agree on: Lafayette is a lousy place to go to school.
"Nobody cares about the education," Daly said on the show, which has become the talk of the school. "The students don't care, the teachers don't care. The principal - I don't even know if he cares."
Reached by The News, Daly declined to comment yesterday.
Milian told The News she was "mortified" by the case and by the failure of school officials to curb the problem.
"Not only are they not fixing it, they are causing it," Milian said, noting that the girls were kept in the same classes after they exchanged punches in the 2002-03 school year and again after the bat attack.
The once-proud Bensonhurst school has been besieged by violence in recent years, earning it the nickname "Horror High."
The U.S. Justice Department accused top school officials this month of looking the other way while Asian students were routinely harassed for years.
The racial fault lines that can lead to violence were again exposed on the TV show.
Daly, who is white and since has transferred to another high school, told the judge there were "a bunch of Negroes in the school."
"I'm Italian," Daly explained. "I don't get along with Negroes."
Department of Education safety czar Rose Albanese DePinto said the school followed all "proper protocols" with Bottex and Daly, who were both suspended for a time after the bat incident.
Lafayette is not the only school with problems, DePinto said.
The school has been working on conflict resolution and peer mediation to reduce acts of violence, DePinto said, insisting there has been a "tremendous change in the school culture and school climate."
But Christina Bottex, who was contacted by the show after her mother filed a civil suit against Daly in small claims court to get money for hospital bills and "pain and suffering," said nothing has changed.
"It's still exactly the same," Christina Bottex said.
Her mother was awarded $2,571 by the TV judge, which was covered by the show. She said she has no regrets about going public.
"I had to go out of that school to get help," Cassandra Bottex said. "It's like they don't care."