Mean Girls Update

In an earlier blog I reported on the tragic story of fifteen year old Phoebe Prince. A quick background of her story was that Prince, who had just moved to Massachusetts from Ireland, was being bullied by a group of nine teenagers. These went as far as to harass through Facebook and text messages. The bullying became so bad that Prince felt there was no way out besides to hang herself.
Out of the nine teens that have been accused of bullying Prince, three of them have been charged so far. None of the teens wanted to make a comment to the public except for one young girl named Sharon Velazquez who had her attorney speak on her behalf. Her attorney says that he feels his client has been unfairly charged and in fact, she has now become a victim of bullying herself. She has now started to be bullied via the internet and that Velazquez and her family fear for her well being. Instead of speaking of remorse for what had happened he used to time to turn the story into almost a pity party for Velazquez. It is too bad that she has begun being bullied, but I look at it as karma. She was a part of a group of teens who tormented Prince to the point of death, so now maybe she is getting a taste of her own medicine.
The staff of South Hadley High School now may also face charges. It is being said that they did not execute proper procedure when dealing with Prince’s case. They were aware of the bullying situation and yet they did nothing to help her. The superintendent said that he was not aware of the bullying, but Prince’s mom Anne spoke to him and two other staff members. It is also brought out that some of the staff had witnessed the harassing that these teens were objecting on students, and yet nothing was done to put a stop to it. There is now talk of a class that will teach students, parents, and teachers how to properly deal with a bullying situation in order to prevent this from ever happening again.
This is so important because it is something that may have been prevented if the teachers had been properly trained on how to deal with situation. I know if I were teaching right now and I witnessed what she was going through, I would not know the proper to deal with the situation, but I do think I would bring it to the attention of higher officials and then keep my eye for the student being bullied. As a future I would love to take a class about how to deal with bullies so that I can ensure I know how to best assist my students someday. This is a heartbreaking story that so many of us can learn from. Words do hurt and we all need to remember the cardinal rule: Treat others as you would want to be treated.