The student, Raniya Wright, had gotten into a fight with another fifth-grade student at Forest Hills Elementary School on Monday and collapsed, according to officials in Colleton County, about an hour west of Charleston.
Emergency workers who responded to a 911 call found Raniya “unconscious but breathing” at the school nurse’s station and rushed her to the hospital, authorities said. By Wednesday morning, her mother said in a Facebook post, her “baby girl” had gotten her “wings.”
It was unclear what led to the fight. The other student was suspended, school officials said, and authorities were investigating. An autopsy was scheduled for Friday.
“Raniya was a wonderful student,” said a statement Wednesday from the office of the superintendent of the Colleton County School District. “She loved to write, spend time with her friends, play basketball and loved being a big sister. She was actively involved in her church as a junior usher. She will be missed greatly.”
“Our entire school district is saddened by this event,” the statement said. “It is very difficult to experience the death of a young person.”
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Raniya’s mother suggested that bullying may have been a factor. She posted a photo of her kissing her daughter’s cheek, as Raniya lay unresponsive, wearing a neck brace and hooked up to tubes. “Stay woke PARENTS!” she wrote. Attempts to reach her on Thursday were not immediately successful.
A spokesman for the school district said Thursday that he could not comment on whether bullying had played a role, citing a continuing investigation.
A spokeswoman for the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office described the episode as a “physical altercation” and said no weapons were used.
No arrests or criminal charges had been made, she said. The other student is a minor and has not been identified.
Though information was scarce, Raniya’s death was a stunning development to what felt like a familiar issue to parents in the South Carolina community and beyond, leading to a discussion about the challenges facing young students and their families today.
News 2, a television station in Charleston, reported that a group of parents met at a library in Colleton County on Wednesday to discuss what they see as a problem with bullying in the district.
Online, condolences poured in for Raniya’s family. A GoFundMe account had raised more than $40,000 by Thursday morning, with messages of support from other parents — “To a mother from a mother” — and those who had experiences with bullying themselves. “I see myself in your beautiful daughter,” wrote one person who recalled being picked on in elementary school.
Forest Hills Elementary School had about 700 students as of the 2016-17 school year. There were 44 classroom teachers, with a student to teacher ratio of 15.77, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
The elementary school had about 50 student behavior incidents that led to out-of-school suspensions last school year, according to data provided by district officials.
A special meeting of the Colleton County school board was scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.