A lawsuit against the Cliffside Park Board of Education alleges that school staff failed to supervise students before a middle-school student was attacked at Cliffside Park School 6. The complaint says the boy suffered fractures to his right radius and ulna and needed emergency medical treatment.
The mother filed the lawsuit in New Jersey Superior Court on Sept. 23, according to NJ.com. It concerns an alleged attack at the school on May 20, 2025.
The lawsuit alleges that staff failed to monitor students’ activities and interactions, supervise the student accused of the attack, and protect the boy. It also claims the Board of Education had a duty to train, supervise and instruct its employees and agents in the safe care of minor students, according to the report.
What the Lawsuit Does Not Say
Notably, the lawsuit does not state whether the other student involved was disciplined over the alleged incident, the report notes. It also does not establish whether the boy was considered a victim of bullying, nor does it lay out the specific events that led up to the alleged attack.
The suit seeks monetary damages along with the costs of filing the case, according to the article. District officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment, per the same report.
A Statewide Pattern of Bullying Litigation
New Jersey recorded 7,455 confirmed harassment, intimidation and bullying reports during the 2024-25 school year, down 12% from 8,494 the previous year and from 9,011 in 2022-23, according to a separate NJ.com analysis. Those statewide figures do not identify the allegations behind individual cases or establish how the Cliffside Park incident was classified or resolved.
How New Jersey Tracks HIB Reports
The New Jersey Department of Education says its Student Safety Data System collects all allegations of harassment, intimidation and bullying, along with data on other student-safety incidents. The statewide confirmed totals cited above therefore do not show whether this particular incident was reported or classified as HIB, according to the department’s 2023-24 report. The department’s 2024-25 school self-assessment tool also recognizes that, where district policy allows, a principal or designee may preliminarily determine that a reported incident is outside HIB’s scope and does not need an HIB investigation. These reporting materials do not establish how the Cliffside Park incident was handled or provide a case-specific account of any investigation.
Settlement outcomes in other New Jersey cases vary. In 2021, Mount Olive school officials agreed to a $750,000 structured settlement paid over several decades in a lawsuit alleging the district covered up bullying of a middle-school student who said she was sexually assaulted by another student. In 2024, the same district reached a separate $300,000 settlement with an employee who claimed she was wrongfully suspended after the bullying case became public, according to NJ.com.
In Point Pleasant, the Board of Education agreed in 2026 to pay $45,000 to resolve a lawsuit alleging administrators ignored reports of bullying involving two sisters; the suit said they were in psychiatric treatment and struggling with self-harm after years of bullying. The district denied wrongdoing under the settlement, NJ.com reported. In a separate case involving alleged sexual assault, the Trenton Board of Education, its contracted security provider and their insurers agreed to pay $950,000 to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of a minor student. The suit alleged the school’s surveillance system did not cover the area where the assault occurred, according to Transparency NJ.
What New Jersey Law Says About Supervision
The New Jersey appellate opinion cited above affirmed summary judgment for the defendants; it does not establish that a school is liable whenever a student is injured. In a separate 2018 case involving allegations of negligent supervision and sexual assault at a Plainfield school, the Appellate Division explained that a plaintiff must prove breach, actual and proximate causation, and damages in addition to establishing a duty of care, according to New Jersey Courts. That ruling involved different allegations and does not decide the Cliffside Park case. The earlier opinion is available from New Jersey Courts.
The available evidence does not establish that the settlements reached in Mount Olive, Point Pleasant or Trenton are legally or factually equivalent to the allegations now facing Cliffside Park. As it stands, the mother's lawsuit remains in its early stages, and no information on the district's response, the alleged attacker's discipline, or the case's eventual outcome has been made public.
