By Julianne McShane
An Italian family has sued an elite New York boarding school where their 17-year-old son killed himself in February, accusing it of keeping him in "solitary confinement" pending their arrival after he was expelled for cheating on a math assignment.
Officials at EF Academy, a private high school in Thornwood, about 35 miles north of New York City, contributed to the death of
17-year-old Claudio Mandia
by expelling him and putting him in solitary confinement despite knowing of the personal problems that had affected his academic performance;
including an attack of COVID-19 and the death of a close relative, according to the lawsuit filed by his father, Mauro Mandia, and another representative of the boy's estate, last Friday in Westchester County Supreme Court.
The suit also alleges that the school "often recklessly neglects the psychological needs of its students" and notes that
a classmate of Claudio's had attempted suicide
, and that Claudio had witnessed this more than a year before his own death.
Claudio Mandia had asked for help days before he died.
Via NBCNews
The lawsuit alleges wrongful death, negligence, false imprisonment, and emotional distress, among other charges, against the school, its parent company, four officials identified by name, and 20 others who remain unnamed and who, according to the suit, "contributed to to exposed damage.
He also demands
both punishment for the school and compensation for the Mandia family
for Claudio's death.
An EF Academy spokesperson said in a statement that the school community remains "deeply saddened by the tragic passing of Claudio Mandia, and our hearts go out to his family, friends and our entire school community during this unimaginably difficult time."
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The statement added that the lawsuit contained "multiple inaccurate claims," and refuted the claim that Mandia was "placed in solitary confinement."
"The narrative shared in the legal filing is not accurate or based on fact," the statement said.
"We are confident that the legal process will allow us to provide and prove a factual legal case that tells what really happened."
"He was under a lot of stress"
Claudio's parents, Mandia and Elisabetta Benesatto, decided to send their son to this elite boarding school – where tuition runs more than
$66,000 a year for full-time students –
located more than 4,000 miles from their home in Battipaglia. , Italy, because it promised a rigorous academic program that would allow Claudio to fulfill his dream of attending a top-tier university in Italy, according to the complaint.
The school also has two other campuses, in Oxford, England, and Pasadena, California.
In the spring of 2020, after completing his first two years of high school in Italy, Claudio's parents enrolled him in the two-year EF Academy International Baccalaureate Program in New York, which provides a "worldwide recognized elite diploma," the complaint states.
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Claudio did well in his first year at school, according to the complaint, which includes comments from his former teachers, who noted that he was "a very good math student", "a great pleasure to have him in class" and "respectful and honest ".
But his second and final year at school was plagued with problems, according to the complaint.
"As EF Academy was aware, Claudio's course had gotten off to a rough start and
he was under extreme stress
," the complaint states.
While visiting home in Italy for winter break in December 2021, Claudio, his mother and three sisters contracted COVID-19, delaying the return of Claudio and one of his sisters, who was also attending. to the EF Academy.
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This, in turn, caused him to fall behind in classes, according to the complaint.
When Claudio and his sister finally returned to campus on January 25, "I was inundated with assignments that had accumulated while I was in quarantine and had looming due dates," causing him to get very little sleep and be late for class. , which led to an arrest on a Saturday,
just over a week before his death.
Just under two weeks later, Claudio "suffered the unexpected loss of a close family member," who allegedly died of a heart condition, according to the complaint.
The loss "terribly disturbed" him and prompted him to seek advice from the school's Director of Mental Health Services, Chelsea Lovece, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
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The lawsuit alleges an allegation of social worker malpractice against Lovece, stating that she was not properly supervised by a licensed psychologist and that she repeatedly "deviated and/or deviated from the accepted standard of social worker care."
Lovece did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
A spokesman for the school also did not answer a question about whether she is still employed there, saying litigation is ongoing.
Claudio had started seeing Lovece for mental health counseling more than a year earlier,
after witnessing the attempted suicide of another student who was also expelled
and placed in solitary confinement, and who now credits Claudio with saving his life. life, according to the complaint.
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However, Claudio's parents were never informed that he was receiving mental health treatment during that 14-month period, the lawsuit states, adding that the school has continued to refuse to provide details of his counseling sessions to them or to the attorney. .
"The safety of our school community is always our top priority, and we take the physical and mental well-being of our students very seriously," a school representative said in their statement.
He screamed for help
Shortly after learning of his relative's death, Claudio "was charged and admitted to hiring a classmate to do math work for him," the complaint says, adding that he was under "extreme stress" at the time. .
The complaint alleges that as punishment for cheating, school officials expelled him on February 14 and "
forced him into isolation
" until his parents could pick him up.
Authorities told Claudio not to leave the isolation room and decided that all meals would be delivered to him, according to the complaint.
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The lawsuit also alleges that the school "prohibited CM from almost all direct contact with other human beings, allowed rotten garbage to accumulate in the room, and, the day before his early dismissal (and ultimately his death), did not They didn't give him breakfast or lunch, which means he went nearly 24 hours without eating," apart from a serving
of McDonald's chicken
nuggets .
Claudio "screamed and called for help while being held in solitary confinement" as school officials allegedly ignored his pleas and refused his parents' request to let him out of the room in which he was being held, according to the complaint.
The day before his departure, Claudio interacted with at least three school staff while
displaying signs of attempted suicide on his neck
, according to the complaint, which notes that as many as 15 of his classmates may have also seen the marks. when they visited him to say goodbye, and that many "asked him about it".
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"[Claudio] said that 'he had fallen in the shower,'" the complaint says.
“Even so, EF Academy kept [Claudio] in solitary confinement without the necessary intervention, counseling, guidance, medical care, mental health care, and supervision,” according to the lawsuit.
The next morning, Claudio's sister asked Lovece to check on her brother after not hearing from him that day, according to the complaint.
Lovece told the girl that she knocked on the door, but no one answered, leading her to believe he was sleeping, and when she returned to the room later,
she found him dead of apparent suicide
, according to the complaint.
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"EF Academy and its agents knew that [Claudio] was at risk of suicide, yet they recklessly kept him isolated, which directly caused his death," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also names as defendants the director of the EF Academy, Dr. Vladimir Kuskovski;
Dean of Students Wayne Walton;
and Ruta Principal Jenna Korn, who the lawsuit alleges wrongly upheld the school's solitary confinement protocol for students following the expulsion.
The lawsuit also accuses EF Academy of negligence in the hiring
, supervision and training of those employees and others.
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Kuskovski, Walton and Korn did not respond to requests for comment.
The EF Academy spokesman did not immediately respond to a question about whether they remain employees of the school.
A monthly update posted on the school's website, dated September, is signed by Kuskovski, who is listed as the school's principal.
On the website, Korn is also still listed in charge of her.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741, or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for more resources.