Hundreds of New Jersey high school students stage walkout days after boy, 11, was stabbed

Hundreds of New Jersey high school students and parents have demanded for the resignation of Perth Amboy’s superintendent after an 11-year-old boy was taken to hospital after being stabbed by a student the same age.

Smailyn Jimenez had been on his way to Samuel Shull Middle School when he was stabbed in the stomach with a kitchen knife by an 11-year-old classmate who left him ‘screaming’ and ‘covered in blood.’

High school students staged a walkout on Monday accusing the Perth Amboy School District of keeping them in the dark about the incident.

Parents were seen marching alongside the incensed group of teenagers who demonstrated outside city hall – crying out for justice.

Pictures and videos of the protest emerged on social media showing the large crowd also calling for extra security for children in the wake of the stabbing incident.

One video shows a swathe of student chanting ‘Justice for Smailyn’ while others bellowed ‘we want change’ as they protested in the streets.

Darlin Morricete, a senior at Perth Amboy High School, told NBC New York, that she felt let down by the administration.

‘We are tired of always just put under the rug and nobody telling us what’s happening in this school,’ said Morricete.

A mother told the broadcaster that her middle school-aged son has been traumatized by the Feb 22 attack adding that her son is ‘scared’ and ‘doesn’t understand why it’s happening.’

The call to action comes in the wake of the brutal stabbing.

While family say Jimenez is recovering the 11-year-old who stabbed him has been charged with an act of juvenile delinquency for offenses equal to attempted murder and aggravated assault, if committed by an adult.

Police said it appears to be an isolated incident as the minor acted alone.

Jimenez was rushed to hospital after bystander, Zenovia Cruz, found the 11-year-old crying out for help while she drove to school to pick up her niece, NBC New York reported.

The young boy then proceeded to lift his shirt and show Cruz the stab wounds.

‘I saw he was screaming, with blood on his hands,’ said Cruz.

‘I brought him into the car…I saw an ambulance, ran out the car, flagging them down…I’m completely heartbroken, I haven’t slept knowing if he’s OK or not.’

Juan Jimenez, the victim’s father, told WTAP that while his son is making progress it could take up to three years for him to fully recover.

He said his son was stabbed twice in the abdomen and that one of the veins to his heart was damaged.

The city and the district released a joint statement which read: ‘The City of Perth Amboy, the Perth Amboy Police Department, and the administration and Board of Education of the Perth Amboy Public Schools jointly condemn and will not tolerate acts of violence against any community members, especially our children.’

The joint statement stressed that the incident did not take place on school grounds and noted that said the entire community has felt it.

‘Anytime an incident involves an injury to a child, emotions rise as it is a fundamental part of our human consciousness,’ the statement adds.

‘The City of Perth Amboy and the Perth Amboy Board of Education stand jointly committed to listening to everyone’s concerns, which requires a multi-faceted approach.

‘We have to work together to provide a set of interventions and solutions that will work for our students, and that requires putting an array of services in place, including having our community police officers and juvenile bureau work with staff in and outside of the school including mental health services, counseling, and peer-to-peer interventions.

They’ve reassured the community that they want students to feel ‘safe and supported.’

The young boy’s family is demanding for justice and calling for the second boy – they allege was involved in the stabbing – to be held accountable.

A Go Fund Me page set up for the family has so far raised $2,155. 

The description is from concerned parent Aldana Aguilera who is also the mother of an 11-year-old.

‘It breaks my heart knowing what Smailyn Jimenez had to go through and his family,’ she wrote.

‘What’s more heart breaking is that his mother is in Republica Dominicana and is not next to her baby I know how hard it must be for her. 

‘I don’t know this family but as a mother and Perth Amboy resident we should come together and help this family with something. 

‘Specifically during this hard times and the father has to be there in the hospital for his son.

‘Maybe our help can get his mom to the US to be next to her angel I’m sure he needs his mommy next to him.’

The shocking stabbing incident comes just weeks after a 14-year-old girl was ‘bullied to death’ in a Bayville, New Jersey,  just under an hour south of Perth Amboy. 

Adriana Kuch, was relentlessly bullied at Central Regional High School in New Jersey’s Berkeley Township, and was found dead at her home two days after a shocking video showing her being beaten up surfaced.

Tales of bullying, sexual assault and racism catapulted the school district into the national spotlight in the wake of Kuch’s devastating suicide many questioning the school district administration.

Superintendent Triantafillos Parlapanides resigned following an outrageous smear against Kuch’s family in the wake of her suicide. 

During the school district’s first public meeting with students and family it emerged that he was still being paid his $190,000 salary despite resigning from his post.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Perth Amboy School District for comment.