Mya Vizcarrondo-Rios jumped to her death in February 2018 after months of tormenting from her fellow peers. Now more than a year after her tragic death, the late teen's parents are pursuing action against those who ignored their daughter's cry for help.

According to The New York Daily News, Mya's father, Heriberto Rios, learned of the abuse his child had been enduring on the day of her death on February 28. Per the news site, Mya had been forced to perform sexual tricks for two male students in the auditorium of Harry S. Truman High School, where she was a student. Following the assault, students began harassing the ninth grader.

Rios began noticing that Mya was increasingly absent from class. This was rare, given that Mya had near-perfect attendance prior to the mistreatment. When he approached his daughter, he says she blamed it on difficulty in some courses.

"I asked what was going on," Rios said to The Daily News. "She said she was having trouble, but she didn't tell me she was being bullied. She didn’t tell me about this. I found out after she passed. The school never told me about the cutting (classes)."

In fact, it appears the school never told Rios about any of the abuse. The New York Post reports Tuesday that Mya actually met with a school guidance counselor to report the bullying. In a suit filed on behalf of the late teen's family against the city and the Department of Education, it alleges the guidance counselor neglected to warn Mya's parents about her situation.

"The guidance counselor saw and willfully ignored the signs that [Mya] was suffering severe emotional pain and depression as a result of the bullying she was receiving at school," the litigation states.

The school official has since been terminated.

The alleged coerced sexual acts on those two students the morning of February 28 was the final straw for Mya. The teen left school hours later, retreated to her mother's home, and jumped from the roof of her mother's 34-story residential complex. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

In a statement provided by The Post, DOE representative Doug Cohen called Mya's death a "tragic loss."

"This was a tragic loss, and students deserve safe and supportive school environments," Cohen said. "We recognize the deep impact bullying can have, and schools are required to immediately investigate and address any allegation."

Unfortunately, Mya's story is just one of many instances of harassment in the New York school system. A report from The New York Post published May 9 claims that a record-high 5,875 cases of harassment, discrimination and bullying during the 2017-2018 school year was reported by students, nearly a 300% increase from the 2013-2014 year, when 1,344 disputes were reported.

Mya Vizcarrondo-Rios

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