Another suicide ... bullying investigate

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
Another suicide ... bullying investigate
14
Mon, 02-08-2010 - 9:54am

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/01/24/the_untouchable_mean_girls/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed1

Like a lot of kids her age, Phoebe Prince was a swan, always beautiful and sometimes awkward.

Last fall, she moved from Ireland into western Massachusetts, a new town, a new high school, a new country, a new culture. She was 15, when all that matters is being liked and wearing the right clothes and just fitting in.

She was a freshman and she had a brief fling with a senior, a football player, and for this she became the target of the Mean Girls, who decided then and there that Phoebe didn’t know her place and that Phoebe would pay.

Kids can be mean, but the Mean Girls took it to another level, according to students and parents. They followed Phoebe around, calling her a slut. When they wanted to be more specific, they called her an Irish slut.

The name-calling, the stalking, the intimidation was relentless.

Ten days ago, Phoebe was walking home from school when one of the Mean Girls drove by in a car. An insult and an energy drink can came flying out the car window in Phoebe’s direction.

Phoebe kept walking, past the abuse, past the can, past the white picket fence, into her house. Then she walked into a closet and hanged herself. Her 12-year-old sister found her.

You would think this would give the bullies who hounded Phoebe some pause. Instead, they went on Facebook and mocked her in death.

They told State Police detectives they did nothing wrong, had nothing to do with Phoebe killing herself.

And then they went right back to school and started badmouthing Phoebe.

They had a dance, a cotillion, at the Log Cabin in Holyoke two days after Phoebe’s sister found her in the closet, and some who were there say one of the Mean Girls bragged about how she played dumb with the detectives who questioned her.

Last week, one of the Springfield TV stations sent a crew to South Hadley High to talk to the kids.

One girl was interviewed on camera, and she said what was common knowledge: that bullies were stalking the corridors of South Hadley High.

As soon as the TV crew was out of sight, one of the Mean Girls came up and slammed the girl who had been interviewed against a locker and punched her in the head.

The Mean Girls are pretty, and popular, and play sports.

So far, they appear to be untouchable, too.

South Hadley is a nice, comfortable middle-class suburb that hugs the Connecticut River nearby and a certain attitude.

“Things like this aren’t supposed to happen in South Hadley,’’ said Darby O’Brien, a high school parent, wondering why the bullies who tormented Phoebe are still in school. “And so instead of confronting the evil among us, the reality that there are bullies roaming the corridors at South Hadley High, people are blaming the victim, looking for excuses why a 15-year-old girl would do this. People are in denial.’’

School officials say there are three investigations going on. They say these things take time.

That doesn’t explain why the Mean Girls who tortured Phoebe remain in school, defiant, unscathed.

“What kind of message does this send to the good kids?’’ O’Brien asked. “How many kids haven’t come forward to tell what they know because they see the bullies walking around untouched?’’

They were supposed to hold a big meeting on Tuesday to talk about all this, but now that’s off for a couple of weeks.

O’Brien is thinking about going to that meeting and suggesting that they have the kids who bullied Phoebe look at the autopsy photos.

“Let them see what a kid who hung herself looks like,’’ he said.

Last week, Phoebe was supposed to visit Ireland, where she grew up, and she was excited because she was going to see her father for the first time in months.

She did end up going back to Ireland after all, and when her father saw her she was in a casket.

Phoebe’s family decided to bury her in County Clare. They wanted an ocean between her and the people who hounded her to the grave.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-22-2010
Mon, 02-08-2010 - 10:13am

Empathy is the ability to

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
Mon, 02-08-2010 - 11:06am

Sad to say there is nothing new about bullying. I endured it myself 40 years ago. What seems to have happened is the invention of Internet and cellphone technology has merely added more avenues to bully from. It has been alleged that this case has some Internet bullying behind it, though police aren't able to release many details due to active investigation still in progress.

"As soon as the TV crew was out of sight, one of the Mean Girls came up and slammed the girl who had been interviewed against a locker and punched her in the head."

This is what I would call assault. Mean Girl needs to go spend some reflective time in a jail cell.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-28-2009
Mon, 02-08-2010 - 11:12am

<>

I completely agree. I'd even say the same thing if Mean Girl was my daughter. If my girls ever behaved in that manner, I'd say that I failed as a parent.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Mon, 02-08-2010 - 11:27am

What a heart breaking story.

Those "mean girls" have blood on their hands. They shouldn't go unpunished.

I can't fathom why they bully. In this case jealousy? Or someone a little different, accent/country?

I went to an all girls school & never experienced bullying there. I was intimidated by older boys outside of school. They took my money, another time threw rocks & hurt my head, another stole my autograph book & tore it up.

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Mon, 02-08-2010 - 11:30am

"...the invention of Internet and cellphone technology has merely added more avenues to bully.."

Sadly true.

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
Mon, 02-08-2010 - 11:39am

My guess is this wasn't the first time Mean Girl did something like this. Most likely it was not dealt with at a younger age. By the time you're dealing with a 15 year old girl draconian steps like jail may be the only way of stopping the behavior.

My experience is too many parents refuse to believe their little Johnny or Susie is capable of such a thing.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
Mon, 02-08-2010 - 11:44am

Do you remember the Daniel Scruggs case?

Happened in Meriden.

Sadly the only one ever convicted was the mother, and her conviction was later overturned.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-28-2009
Mon, 02-08-2010 - 11:50am

<>

Oh, yeah. That is so true. I've had parents actually tell me to my face that I couldn't have possibly seen with my own two eyes their kid do something rotten because their kid would NEVER do that. To go along with that, I've been accused of being "out to get" their kid. I mean, c'mon! Like I would be out to get a first grader. *insert huge eye roll here*

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Mon, 02-08-2010 - 12:02pm

Reading the article jogged my memory....

>"Daniel's short, unhappy life has led to a new law in Connecticut that requires schools to report bullying to authorities. But for all the people who knew about Daniel's problems -- from his school to the child protection agency to the juvenile courts to his own mother -- no one intervened."<

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/28/60II/main580507.shtml

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
Mon, 02-08-2010 - 12:12pm

http://www.ct.gov/oca/cwp/view.asp?a=1301&q=258022

This is the executive summary .... the entire document is 43 pages.

One of the saddest and most infuriating documents I have ever read.

I thought other states had learned from this.

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