Monday, April 26, 2010

Bullying and Death of Phoebe Prince

With the recent focus in the headlines of the mobbing and death of Phoebe Prince, the world's attention has been focused on the the ever growing epidemic of teen bullying in our schools. Why did this happen and why did faculty and staff look the other way and do nothing to intervene?

According to a school editorial published five years ago by two former students, Matthew Caron and Caitlin McCarron, "Bullying: Out of Their Vision But Not Out of Ours", the bullying problem at South Hadley High School had been a serious problem for several years despite warnings to faculty and staff. In the article, principal, Dan Smith was quoted as saying he did not see an increase in the problem at the school and stated, "The bullying is out of my vision."

Well, Mr. Smith, maybe you need to open your eyes.