Phoebe Prince’s mother’s sets the record straight on daughter’s suicide

So sad to think the Phoebe didn't get the emotional support that she needed even from the therapist. This girl needed to be a more secure school environment where this type of behavior was not permitted. She was too vulnerable to be in a school where the staff turned a blind eye to such bullying behavior attributing it to typical adolescent behavior. Its a pity that this girl didn't have the strong support system that would have prevented this from happening and a shame that she thought that she needed to take her life to stop the pain or guilt!

So sad to think that this girl didn't get the emotional support that she needed even from the therapist that she was seeing as a patient. She should have been in a more secure school environment that didn't have this bullying or predatory behavior going on. The school staff were incompetent in doing their job when they turned a blind eye or simply ignored it and attributed it to normal adolescent behavior. It's a pity that she felt that the only way out was to take her life to stop the pain or deal with the guilt!

To Phoebe's mother, I would say that I would have no doubt that they would have proceeded with the dance no matter if it had been an American victim of bullying. Because they blame the victim in all cases, regardless. Is it sick that they proceeded with the dance? Yes, very.

As someone who has firsthand experience of suicide in my own family, it takes a terrible toll on a family, that continues for generations. Two people closest to the suicides both died of colon cancer, it was as if their sadness ate at them. My heart goes out to Phoebe's family, and to the little sister who found her.

I hope people understand and respect the family's desire not to have Phoebe's tragedy turned into a media commodity. But I also hope that others, particularly adolescents who witness or experience bullying, will tell their own stories and keep telling them until O'Brien's hope becomes reality: "that children are less cruel to each other, that parents talk to their kids and that teachers and administrators take bullying more seriously." Bullying is a topic that every adolescent knows about, and they can write some horrific stories and give moving commentary about the bullying they've felt or seen. They can help the adults understand what the victims are dealing with.

I think the school staff is more at fault than anyone and the super, Gus Sayer, is quite scary. He still maintains the "school" did nothing wrong. Is he kidding? What more evidence would anyone need? They seem to be above the law, they investigate themselves, answer to no one. Why do schools always have this group of parents, usual town gossips and activists as their first line of defense? The mother is absolutely right, the top admin should be fired and the group of defending parents should be cleared out and then this school would have a chance. I think this group of parents is put in place for that very reason. It's a proactive strategy on their part for protection. I think Gus Sayer should have been fired immediately and the principal as well. Nothing happened, nothing will change. I feel for this family to have such a horrible thing happen, to see the school dance go on as planned with the bullies all there enjoying themselves and still mocking the bullied child. Why do parents put up with this? For many students the school is the scariest place they will even go in their lives, we hear about bullying and sucides all the time and still we put up with it. This school and this story is the perfect example of how wrong it all is.

"South Hadley School Superintendent Gus Sayer maintains no one in the schools did anything wrong." I'd say no one in the schools did anything at ALL, and therein lies the problem!

When will parents and educators get it through their thick skulls that bullying is a damaging act? Parents. Please teach your children to treat others as they want to be treated and teach them this when they are young children. You need to parent and teach your children kindness, empathy and compassion. Educators--why do you continue to turn a blind eye to those children who are bullied? Are you so petrified of the bullies yourselves? These bullies need to be expelled from school. Period. Bullying is a total act of cowardice and deserves punishment. I'm sick and tired of this garbage. Time to stop the victimization of the people being bullied and take action against these cowardly bullies.

I brought my daughter with me, from our home in Chicago, for a year in Ireland when she was 14. She attended a local Secondary School in a town outisde Dublin. Like this poor girl, my daughter suffered a lot of teasing and bullying from a group Irish girls who attended a neighboring school. I didn't even know it was going on at the time and only found out the extent of it a few years later. Luckily my daughter was not driven to any sort of depression from it, but I do know this sort of behaviour is quite common in girls this age and transcends country and culture. I will say, my daughter made some wonderful friends in her own school who she remains friends with to this day. Perhaps it was the support she had from her friends that helped her through the bullying she was experiencing. But I have to say, as a parent it is disheartening to realize the extent your own child will go to to keep her parents from learning what is going on.