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Tragic suicide of bullied Irish girl in Massachusetts

By
JANE WALSHE
,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Saturday, January 23, 2010, 9:35 AM
Updated Sunday, January 31, 2010, 10:54 AM
Read more: Daniel Smith, Phoebe Prince


Flowers left at a fence outside Phoebe Prince's home
Flowers left at a fence outside Phoebe Prince's home

A teenager from County Clare, Phoebe Prince, took her life on Thursday, January 14, following harassment and bullying by schoolmates. After her death, the bullies defaced the Facebook page that had been set up in her honor, posting malicious comments and images.

The 15-year-old was living with her family, who were on a short-term relocation in the US, and had lived here  for just six months. Early this week, Daniel Smith, the principal at her school said, "Phoebe was a smart, charming – and as is the case with many teenagers – complicated young person who truly valued her close friends and her family," the Irish Examiner reported.

Harassment is a major problem at South Hadley High School in Massachusetts. Several children have left the town because of bullying, according to the Examiner.

The extent of the problem was clear in the vandalizing of Prince’s memorial page on Facebook. The site has been closed and all the messages on it have been made private.

Smith said that Prince had been pretty and clever, but said the school had recently intervened because of conflicts with other students relating to dating and relationships. A school dance was due to be held two days after she died.

“Some students made mean-spirited comments to Phoebe in school and on the way home from school, but also through texting and social-networking Web sites,” Smith wrote, according to the Boston Herald. “This insidious, harassing behavior knows no bounds.”

“We will never know the specific reasons why she chose to take her life,” he added. “However, both local and state police investigations are looking into the role that bullying may have played in her decision.”

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Posted by herself11 on Feb 16, 2010, 04:04 PM EST
I talked to the mother of the bully and it changed NOTHING
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Posted by Christisall on Feb 12, 2010, 10:37 AM EST
School officials need to take bullying seriously. At my school, reports are made to the administration who further reports to the supt. and then the police are called in. parents are notified. Parents are the real problem because they think their little girl or boy would never do wrong and these parents defend their heartless brats. I was bullied and had no help. My daughter was bullied, too, as my son was while school officials sat by doing nothing and offering no help. Sometimes, parents of bullied children need to take matters into their own hands if it means getting justice for their helpless children. My husband went to the home of the bully boy; it changed everything.
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Posted by sperez26 on Feb 05, 2010, 07:03 PM EST
I am a Grad of that school. It was happening then too. I truely believe that if the school does not do anything about it, then the person being bullied should take matters into there own hands and step up to the bullies and knock them out; maybe then they would think twice about bullyig again. I have two kids of my own, and I can never picture this happening. This truley is VERY SAD, and I am vey angered and dissapointed in the schools ignorance of this young girls issues. She had made many very clear signs of her needing that helping hand, and yet that helping hand wasn`t offered to her. What up sets me the most is that now an attemp is being made to stop the bulling, why now?, it should had of happend right when she had confronted the school about it. It truely is sad that it takes someone to lose their life for "Red Flags" to go up. I give my hart to her family.
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Posted by ericalaughlin on Feb 04, 2010, 07:02 PM EST
Bear with us! There is still a lot going on and there are those of us who are still kicking down doors everywhere we can. We will not allow Pheobe to be forgotten. We are demanding change...that people are held to accountability and that a specific law is in place. Too many kids go through this...and if we here can help it, Pheobe will be remembered as the Irish girl who changed everything over here. I drive by her house every single day at least twice a day. Her home was almost directly across from the high school she attended. No one can go past that house and not be reminded of her. This is going to stay with us. We're trying everything we can to change how things are here.
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Posted by Critarun on Feb 03, 2010, 08:09 PM EST
Massachusetts not a place i want to visit Time for parents to teach there children respect
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Posted by susanwalsh on Feb 03, 2010, 07:39 PM EST
My heart goes out to Phoebe's family. Parents have to take the responsibility to teach our children to be kind to others. So many of our youth are facing cruelty from bullies every day. How painful and difficult it must be to even think about going to school when you know the bullies are waiting to torment you. Parents, students and schools need to stand up to bullies and share kindness. The Prince family are in my thoughts and prayers.


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