South Hadley,MA Phoebe Prince 15 kills self over bullying

[stmarysmead]

Sayer says...

"If they, as they have been charged, committed crimes, they should face the consequences for those crimes," he said.

But, he added, expulsion is something educators are reluctant to countenance.

"It's a terrible punishment because that changes their whole lives and what they are capable of doing, and they have to figure out a way to renew and complete their education."

What is the logic here? If they committed crimes send them to jail...but we don't want to expell anyone because it "changes their lives?"

How did the harrassment not "change" Phoebe's life in the months she endured it? But the bullies MUST NOT have their precious lives "changed" unless a D.A. steps in and charges them?

Huh?

These bullies were real perceptive kids. It doesn't take but a few interviews to see what they KNEW. There would be no real consequenes coming from these individuals for anything they did to Phoebe. No wonder they had no fear to deface her picture in class, hound her in the halls, threaten her in the Library, even step into he4r class with the Teacher present to call her an obscenity. Their history with the school told them...there would be minimal involvement by staff...maybe just a finger wiggled at them.

Expulsion...NEVER!

Futhermore, if two visits from Phoebe's Mother and three months of open harrassment produced only a "See No Evil" response...supervision at that school was an open joke.

They "Saw NOTHING" like Sergeant Schultz of Hogan's heroes.

Let's face it...the Bullies WERE TAUGHT at that school what the response would be. They were taught WELL.
The school and administration EDUCATED them that bullies were tolerated. There would be no response and no consequences!

 

[Paladine]

I agree, Mary. The bullying changed Phoebes life.

Mulveyhill might lose his scholarship, though...and Narey is an academic and sports star...we can't affect them, though, can we? Sickening.

 

[stmarysmead]

"The contracts of both Principal Smith and Superintendent Sayer are facing review on May 1. Dr. Sayer said it's up to the school committee to take action against him if they're not happy with his performance."

I hope there will be a concerted effort to put pressure on the school board to remove them.
The Run4Chocolate Blog is doing a terrific job....I hope there will be other Blogs bringing pressure to bear!

 

[Paladine]

"Phoebe Prince's bullying boyfriend had promising football career"

Mulveyhill (no. 25 in black above) became Phoebe Prince's boyfriend soon after she moved from Ireland to South Hadley Mass.. They broke up and he allegedly took part in the vicious bullying of her subsequently.

Back in November 0f 2009 however, just two months before Phoebe committed suicide Mulvehill the high school senior was lighting up the football field.

http://www.irishcentral.com/story/s...d-had-promising-football-career-89526247.html

 

[Paladine]

"The contracts of both Principal Smith and Superintendent Sayer are facing review on May 1. Dr. Sayer said it's up to the school committee to take action against him if they're not happy with his performance."

I hope there will be a concerted effort to put pressure on the school board to remove them.
The Run4Chocolate Blog is doing a terrific job....I hope there will be other Blogs bringing pressure to bear!

Yes...great blog...I get lost over there, so much to read...

 

[Paladine]

"Has justice really been done for Phoebe Prince?

"The New York Times report stated, "The charges were an unusually sharp legal response to the problem of adolescent bullying, which is increasingly conducted in cyberspace as well as in the schoolyard and has drawn growing concern from parents, educators and lawmakers."

But one of the shocking pieces of information to emerge from this tragedy is that school teachers and administrators were indeed aware of the bullying and did little or nothing to prevent it. While Prince lived, the crimes were known about, but went unpunished.

Given that some teachers were already aware of the bullying, what would have happened if Prince had reported it to them? Would they have punished the bullies or reported their activities to the police? And if Prince had gone to the police, would they in turn have brought charges, or seen it as a school problem?

It seems that the main reason why these teenagers have been charged is not because they committed crimes of statutory rape and harassment, but because Prince died.

http://www.irishcentral.com/story/e...lly-been-done-for-phoebe-prince-89788277.html

 

[Paladine]

This comment from a SHHS student on Dan Smiths support page, fb...(I knew who she was from run4chocolates blog)

Can you believe it? If they didn't stop he should have expelled them! And this comment, along with all the other reports of officials seeing things, seems to say, Dan didn't tell Gus..or Gus is lying. This says Dan knew. From someone who supports Dan!

Her harassment was brought to the administration more than once. The girls just didn't stop harassing her.. Mr Smith never stopped doing his job.
Wed at 3:59pm · Report

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=106818146018970&id=339398485208

http://run4chocolate.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/one-south-hadley-kid-gets-it/

 

[Meggie]

Hi everyone.Have just joined.I am also from Co. Clare in Ireland.I did not know Phoebe or her family but my heart is broken for them. This beautiful child who had her life ahead of her was tormented beyond reason through no fault of her own. She was a unique person who has touched the hearts of so many people. May she rest in peace.

 

[Gracenote]

Hi everyone.Have just joined.I am also from Co. Clare in Ireland.I did not know Phoebe or her family but my heart is broken for them. This beautiful child who had her life ahead of her was tormented beyond reason through no fault of her own. She was a unique person who has touched the hearts of so many people. May she rest in peace.

Hi, Meggie. This story breaks my heart. I was bullied in school because I was the fat girl. I came so close to killing myself. I wish that someone could have stepped in to help this child. I don't understand why they did not.

 

[Paladine]

Gus Sayer was just on HLN, again. He was complaining about the threatening emails, from all over the country, that he's been recieving. One mentioned him and/or staff burning in hell...keep an eye on HLN if you want to see it...they loop their stories...

Imagine how Phoebe felt, Gus?! You just got emails...

 

[Paladine]

Hi everyone.Have just joined.I am also from Co. Clare in Ireland.I did not know Phoebe or her family but my heart is broken for them. This beautiful child who had her life ahead of her was tormented beyond reason through no fault of her own. She was a unique person who has touched the hearts of so many people. May she rest in peace.

Welcome, Meggie... I'm from Canada. We are quite the international bunch, here!

So, so sorry about Phoebe...my condolences to the people of County Clare who loved and knew Phoebe...you lost a sweet Girl...and the world lost a chance to ever meet her.

 

[Meggie]

Hi, Meggie. This story breaks my heart. I was bullied in school because I was the fat girl. I came so close to killing myself. I wish that someone could have stepped in to help this child. I don't understand why they did not.

With the help of God no child anywhere will ever again have to suffer the taunts and the cruelty that this little angel did. She was like a lamb to the slaughter. I was bullied myself at school so I know the angst and the depths of despair that this can bring a young person to.

 

[Paladine]

Based on their actions (or lack thereof) that's not a threat, it's a prediction. I'd put my money on it.

Great point! No kidding.

 

[Meggie]

Welcome, Meggie... I'm from Canada. We are quite the international bunch, here!

So, so sorry about Phoebe...my condolences to the people of County Clare who loved and knew Phoebe...you lost a sweet Girl...and the world lost a chance to ever meet her.

I do not know the family but my thoughts and prayers are with them. Phoebe is the same age as my own daughter and I would be heartbroken if she was taken from me so needlessly and in such tragic circumstances. My own daughter was bullied and it is a place I never want to go again because it nearly tore the heart out of our family. We were lucky because the school took a proactive and zero tolerance stance on this issue. The problem was it was nearly 6 months before she told us what was going on. We had noticed changes at home in that she became more withdrawn and quiet, I approached the school and they hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary at that stage. It all came to a head 3 weeks before her exams when she broke down and told us everything that was happening and it wasn't pleasant. The bully's were quite devious in that they made sure that it was very sneaky and underhand. Luckily once I went to the headmaster it was sorted very quickly and swiftly and to date there have been no repercussions.

 

[Meggie]

Thank you for joining and I'm sorry it's under these circumstances. What happened to Phoebe is unspeakable, the only thing lower is the reactions of her tormentors and their "parents".

It is my pleasure. I have been so shocked to the core by this whole tragic case from start to finish. Thank you all for this forum where there is such good non-biased information.

 

[Paladine]

Coming up on HLN...JVM has Phoebe's friend...

 

[Paladine]

"Mean girls aren't a myth
A New York Times Op-Ed arguing that the girl bully epidemic is a "hoax" relies on the wrong statistics"

"Unfortunately, cruelty between girls can't really be measured with the hard crime statistics on which Males and Lind's argument relies. That's part of what makes it so insidious. As Rachel Simmons wrote in "Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Teenage Girls," bullying between teenage girls expresses itself as physical fighting less often than it does as relational aggression, a soft and social warfare often conducted between girls who seem to be friends. You can't measure rumors, passive-aggressive remarks, alienation and shaming with statistics. But that doesn't mean they aren't damaging or common -- or, you know, mean. There's a difference between being cruel and being violent -- a difference that the Times piece seems not to recognize, actually -- but cases like that of Prince, or Megan Meier, who committed suicide after being harassed by Lori Drew on MySpace, show that the consequences can be distressingly similar. Girls may not murder people very often, but neither Prince nor Meier were murdered; they were taunted and bullied to the point that suicide seemed like their only option.

http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/2010/04/02/mean_girls_phoebe_prince/

 

[Paladine]

Jane's covering the "accomplished" status! Jane, after hearing Gus on tape saying Phoebe didn't tell till Jan 7th..."So! It's Phoebe's fault? REALLY?"

 

[Paladine]

I do not know the family but my thoughts and prayers are with them. Phoebe is the same age as my own daughter and I would be heartbroken if she was taken from me so needlessly and in such tragic circumstances. My own daughter was bullied and it is a place I never want to go again because it nearly tore the heart out of our family. We were lucky because the school took a proactive and zero tolerance stance on this issue. The problem was it was nearly 6 months before she told us what was going on. We had noticed changes at home in that she became more withdrawn and quiet, I approached the school and they hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary at that stage. It all came to a head 3 weeks before her exams when she broke down and told us everything that was happening and it wasn't pleasant. The bully's were quite devious in that they made sure that it was very sneaky and underhand. Luckily once I went to the headmaster it was sorted very quickly and swiftly and to date there have been no repercussions.

Thank goodness your Daughter's okay, Meggie...some good news. Terrible how mean people can be.

 

[OrdinaryLife]

On one hand, I'm stunned that Gus Sayer is still doing media interviews considering how huge this case has become (thankfully!) and where are the lawyers that should be telling him to shut the heck up???

On the other hand, I'm not surprised. Given the ignorance and covering a$$ that the school administration hold very dear to their person, I'd be surprised if they could see a tree in a forest....

I have two words for this family: Civil Suit. Not for the money, but to take these so called professionals to task for lack of action. It is the moral principle of it all. Again I state, make this school an example of what is an epidemic within our schools. I'm *very* good with that....