Phoebe Prince story to be aired on 'Dateline' on NBC

I was interested to see this as it is something we are dealing with in our home. my daughter was being bullied and was afraid to tell us fearing it would get worse. she started cutting and decided taking her life would be better than going back to school after spring break.

We knew about the cutting and we were getting her help. We had no idea the extent of bullying even after talking to counselors. We were lucky unlike Phoebe's family. But we only got lucky because she only took enough pills to make her sick. Being 12 it's not something she would know much about. She was in a special hospital for two weeks.

What is so sad to me is she asked for help and we only got the cliff notes version of what was happening. She was afraid to speak up so we just trusted the adults we spoke with. One teacher did speak up but only one student was suspended for one day.

It was so sad to watch and see my sweet girl had to deal with an almost identical situation and it was only luck my daughter is still here. But I realized how easy it is for any child to be a victim to this kind of violence and abuse. The days of, "Ignore it and it will go away", should be long gone. How many more children have to die before bullying is taken more seriously?

Phoebe and countless other children deserve to be here and the children who think suicide is a solution need adults to step in. And it seems Phoebe's past is being used against her to take the guilt off of her tormentors. Sad.
 
It would be interesting to do a psychological profile of the South Hadley 6. One thing I noticed is that narcissism runs deep, especially in Sean Mulveyhill, Kayla Narey, and Flannery Mullins. I know that three of them are wedlock children; Sharon Chanon Velazquez, Ashley Longe, and Mullins. I wonder if they were target of abuse and/or had religious parents, which I have seen with others (eg. Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Osama bin Laden, Jeffrey Dahmer, Diane Downs, etc.). I am not making excuses or attacking religions for what they did. It is something I wonder.
 
I'm an educator, and to hear about the lack of action taken in this case by the administrators and teachers makes me sick. It sounds like the Latin teacher acted when she witnessed the bullying, but it also sounds like the administration did nothing until the pressure was put on them after Phoebe's death. It's inexcusable. It's like a doctor refusing to treat someone who needs medical help.

Cookiepie, I am so sorry to hear about what your daughter is going through. Do not give up on making the administration take action against the bullies. Do not accept any excuses that they give. Do not stop demanding that they take action. If they refuse, then go to the next higher-ups. It's just not acceptable for any educator to turn a blind eye, or to sweep something like this under the rug. If they can't properly deal with a situation that is harmful to their students, then they shouldn't be in their jobs.

I watched the Dateline story tonight with my husband and we were both shocked by the apparent lack of remorse by Sean Mulveyhill. Phoebe's parents are better people than I am because if Phoebe had been my daughter, I would have fought tooth and nail for that kid to be put behind bars. His role in this tragedy is by far the most disgusting-using Phoebe for sex and then egging on another girl to bully Phoebe when he was facing the heat from his girlfriend. He's a coward of the worst kind. I won't write what my husband said he would have done to Sean if he'd been a fellow student at that school because it's not fit to print, but lets just say it would have involved daily beatings.

The fact that these kids continued to say horrible things about Phoebe after she killed herself tells me that they display a serious lack of empathy bordering on sociopathy. It's really sick.
 
I'm an educator, and to hear about the lack of action taken in this case by the administrators and teachers makes me sick. It sounds like the Latin teacher acted when she witnessed the bullying, but it also sounds like the administration did nothing until the pressure was put on them after Phoebe's death. It's inexcusable. It's like a doctor refusing to treat someone who needs medical help.

Cookiepie, I am so sorry to hear about what your daughter is going through. Do not give up on making the administration take action against the bullies. Do not accept any excuses that they give. Do not stop demanding that they take action. If they refuse, then go to the next higher-ups. It's just not acceptable for any educator to turn a blind eye, or to sweep something like this under the rug. If they can't properly deal with a situation that is harmful to their students, then they shouldn't be in their jobs.

I watched the Dateline story tonight with my husband and we were both shocked by the apparent lack of remorse by Sean Mulveyhill. Phoebe's parents are better people than I am because if Phoebe had been my daughter, I would have fought tooth and nail for that kid to be put behind bars. His role in this tragedy is by far the most disgusting-using Phoebe for sex and then egging on another girl to bully Phoebe when he was facing the heat from his girlfriend. He's a coward of the worst kind. I won't write what my husband said he would have done to Sean if he'd been a fellow student at that school because it's not fit to print, but lets just say it would have involved daily beatings.

The fact that these kids continued to say horrible things about Phoebe after she killed herself tells me that they display a serious lack of empathy bordering on sociopathy. It's really sick.

What happened at South Hadley High School reminds me of what happened at Penn State (Jerry Sandusky), Axis Power (Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo), Cambodia (Pol Pot), or Rwanda (Tutsi genocide) happened. People knew what they were doing was wrong, but they turned the other cheek and allowed it happened.

The bullies are clear cut psychopaths, not just sociopaths. Sean Mulveyhill reminds me of Joran van der Sloot and Casey Anthony, psychopaths.
 
Thanks so much. I have researched bullying laws here in Texas and as a parent it's important to know your state laws. It helped me to make them help her more. Overall I've learned bullies only target kids who they feel are weak and will not fight back. And the schhols seem to take the wait and see approach. I guess they hope things blow over.

Group mentality plays a big part and Facebook only adds fuel to the fire. As long as kids feel like nobody will step in the more power they feel they have. What's sad is a few months before my daughter hurt herself a young girl tried to take her life in the bathroom at a school dance. Not to mention all the recently reported suicides.

Poor, Pheobe, she must have felt so alone with all those kids ganging up on her. And only one teacher stepped in but what a slap in the face that not much was done to protect her. She tried to hurt herself before but changed her mind. We can't know what was in her mind how sad she felt that hopeless.

Those kids sorry's were too late and were probably for themselves more than Phoebe.
 
@HMSHood "What happened at South Hadley High School reminds me of what happened at Penn State (Jerry Sandusky), Axis Power (Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo), Cambodia (Pol Pot), or Rwanda (Tutsi genocide) happened."

I thought about those things as well. As long as the majority keeps quiet the more they try to get away with. It's the same mentality. It's like when people just walk by a fight or accident because they don't want to get involved. Keeping quiet is being complicit.
 
@HMSHood "What happened at South Hadley High School reminds me of what happened at Penn State (Jerry Sandusky), Axis Power (Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo), Cambodia (Pol Pot), or Rwanda (Tutsi genocide) happened."

I thought about those things as well. As long as the majority keeps quiet the more they try to get away with. It's the same mentality. It's like when people just walk by a fight or accident because they don't want to get involved. Keeping quiet is being complicit.

Thanks so much. I have researched bullying laws here in Texas and as a parent it's important to know your state laws. It helped me to make them help her more. Overall I've learned bullies only target kids who they feel are weak and will not fight back. And the schhols seem to take the wait and see approach. I guess they hope things blow over.

Group mentality plays a big part and Facebook only adds fuel to the fire. As long as kids feel like nobody will step in the more power they feel they have. What's sad is a few months before my daughter hurt herself a young girl tried to take her life in the bathroom at a school dance. Not to mention all the recently reported suicides.

Poor, Pheobe, she must have felt so alone with all those kids ganging up on her. And only one teacher stepped in but what a slap in the face that not much was done to protect her. She tried to hurt herself before but changed her mind. We can't know what was in her mind how sad she felt that hopeless.

Those kids sorry's were too late and were probably for themselves more than Phoebe.

Group mentality plays a huge role no doubt. All the bullies with the exception of Austin Renaud are psychopaths, which is rather interesting. Usually, the mastermind is a psychopath and the follower is not a psychopath, usually a follower or someone who is disturbed. Ashley Longe and Sharon Chanon Velazquez could of bullied by themselves, but when they are in group. This suggests they like to be where the action is.

Usually with group mentality, people who are not bully or violent can become that. Examples of that are Nazis Germany, Soviet Union, Maoist China, Khmer Rouge, Al-Qaeda, Manson Family, Lori Drew, Gertrude Baniszewski, and Columbine Massacre.

Interestingly, Velazquez, Longe, and Flannery Mullins are wedlock children and raised by single parent. As for calling her Phoebe Prince "*advertiser censored*", etc. I think they are self-righteous in nature and probably parent(s) are religious as it tends to repress people and have a "us vs. them" mentality. Highly religious parents tend to be very controlling and abusive.
 
It would be interesting to do a psychological profile of the South Hadley 6. One thing I noticed is that narcissism runs deep, especially in Sean Mulveyhill, Kayla Narey, and Flannery Mullins. I know that three of them are wedlock children; Sharon Chanon Velazquez, Ashley Longe, and Mullins. I wonder if they were target of abuse and/or had religious parents, which I have seen with others (eg. Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Osama bin Laden, Jeffrey Dahmer, Diane Downs, etc.). I am not making excuses or attacking religions for what they did. It is something I wonder.

One of your "South Hadley 6" was not involved. His "crime" was being PP's boyfriend for a while.
 
One of your "South Hadley 6" was not involved. His "crime" was being PP's boyfriend for a while.

Only reason I mentioned South Hadley 6 and Renaud was that he was charged and was lumped with them.
 
I did not get to see it as I was already in bed. I am soooo glad my daughter is grown but then I think of my possible grandchildren and all the other bullied children out there. It is both scary & sad.
 

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