While still grieving the tragic death of 12-year-old Khimberly Zavaleta Chuquipa – after a fatal blow to her head by a metal water bottle during an alleged bullying incident at Reseda Charter High School – her family filed formal government claims against Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), alleging they failed to protect Khimberly despite repeated reports of bullying.
“Today, we filed a claim against [LAUSD],” said attorney Robert Glassman, a partner with Panish, Shea and Ravipudi LLP, during a March 11 press conference, noting the legal action is the required first step before filing a lawsuit. The school district has 45 days to respond.
Glassman said Khimberly’s death resulted from the “very real and very devastating consequences [of] unchecked bullying,” despite her mother, Elma Chuquipa, reporting prior bullying targeting Khimberly and her sister, Sharon, 15, to the school on multiple occasions.
“The [girls] told me some kids were threatening to hit them, so I went to the school to tell [the administrators], and they told me they were going to call in Khimberly to speak with her,” recounted Chuquipa. “I called the school again after I hadn’t heard back from them and asked them to please call in my daughter to speak with her, but they never did anything about it.
“They attacked my daughters inside the school and where was the security that they needed?” she continued. “There wasn’t any security there. … I have a broken heart over losing my daughter. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. … How many more mothers have to cry, and how many fathers, over losing our kids? … And the school, up to this day, still hasn’t said anything.”
“The school, unfortunately, did not do anything. They did not take any action,” added Glassman. He said the school’s failure to address the issue or provide adequate supervision allowed another altercation to unfold on campus on Feb. 17, “when Khimberly was trying to protect her sister.”
“She stepped in when the school did not, and while she was trying to protect her sister from being bullied, a metal [water] bottle was thrown at her head, and, unfortunately, Khimberly suffered [a] brain injury,” he said. She later had a brain bleed and underwent emergency surgery and medical procedures, including an induced coma. She died in the hospital on Feb. 25.
“Khimberly did not go home,” said Glassman. “When we [send out kids to school], we expect them to be safe. But when bullying and violence escalate at a school, that’s a serious breakdown of student safety and that’s exactly what happened here within the LA Unified School District.”
A student at Reseda Charter, who asked to remain anonymous, said there are frequent fights among students on campus. She said administrators “just sweep things under the rug” or offer inadequate remedies. For example, when fights started breaking out regularly in the student restrooms, she said they closed several restrooms across campus. But the measure didn’t serve as a deterrent, she explained, because soon after fights started happening outside the restrooms, too.
According to Glassman, a recent study indicates that one out of three middle school students has experienced bullying at an LAUSD school. In addition, more than 6,000 bullying incidents were reported during the 2023-2024 academic year across all LAUSD schools.
“That is inexcusable and this is something that the school district needs to finally start taking seriously,” said Glassman. “This is [about] more than just one child [or] just one student.”
In addition to seeking justice for Khimberly, Glassman said they are calling on LAUSD to institute: stronger anti-bullying enforcement; adequate supervision on campus; immediate bullying intervention protocols; and clear reporting procedures for threats and violence.
Khimberly’s father, Jesus Zavaleta, said he hopes no other family will have to endure the same grief and heartbreak that he and his family are currently living through after Khimberly’s death.
“[Khimberly] was a beautiful girl, a sweet girl – a lovely sister and a good daughter,” he said. “She loved to sing, she loved to dance. She would joke around with us in the house. She was the joy of the household. We would go to the park, and she would say, ‘Let’s play’ and run around. Unfortunately, she had a lot of goals that were never accomplished; she had a lot of dreams.
The weekend Khimberly ended up being hospitalized, the family had plans to go to the snow.
“Now,” he added, “that’s never going to happen.”