South Hadley Superintendent Defends School in Phoebe Prince Case

Phoebe Prince was a high school student who committed suicide in response to incessant bullying from her classmates at South Hadley High School. In a situation apparently reminiscent of the movie Mean Girls—but worse—Prince was repeatedly harassed online and in school, and nobody did anything about it: or at least nobody did enough. Now, the superintendent of South Hadley schools has denied wrongdoing on the part of the school, claiming that administrators didn't know about the extent of the bullying and took as much action as possible in the few instances they were aware of. “The kids have a way of communicating with each other without us knowing about it,’’ superintendent Gus Sayer said. “They really have their own world.’’

While teenagers certainly do live on their own planet, this statement ignores the fact that part of the responsibility of a school is to help shape the way that kids view and experience the world, and to shape it for the better. By deflecting responsibility in this case, the school system is essentially paving the way for students to do the same. Of course it's the school's job to defend itself. But the school has a more important job: to set an example for kids, to educate them. This sad situation could have been an opportunity for the school to send a message of responsibility, to tell kids: this school is a community, built on respect and communication, and all members—students, administrators, and teachers alike—have the responsibility to respect one another and confront bullying where it starts. But by abdicating responsibility in this case, the school is essentially opening the door for students to do nothing.

One of the biggest problems with bullying is the victims' fear of being harassed even more for speaking up about their woes. This extends to other students' fear of being bullied themselves for speaking up in defense of a bullying victim. By perpetuating a cycle in which only the administration cracks down (most often uselessly) on bullies, South Hadley High School is in effect perpetuating bullying, and washing its hands of what happens between students behind closed doors (or after school hours, as the school day is the only time when new anti-bullying provisions at South Hadley may take effect). Sadly, the school district's official statements just set an example for making covering your own ass a priority over defending others. Until kids feel empowered to address bullies on their own, or think that reporting incidents to a supportive ally (and not a faceless bureaucracy) will have any effect—and it didn't, for Phoebe—bullying will continue, and more students may choose to die rather than face another school day.

At the same task force meeting that lamented what to do about kids' behavior after school hours, a critical point (courtesy Barbara Coloroso) was raised: "The simple act of addressing the issue in front of the bully, the bullied, and the bystander helps all three of them." Unfortunately, South Hadley's official position has note addressed the issue, but rather seems to be pretending that abuse didn't happen: "We don’t have knowledge of any bullying or other incidents before [those reported]," the superintendent said. The whole situation is disturbingly reminiscent of the Catholic Church denying responsibility for abuse that happened within its ranks. In both cases, an institution is coldly and bureaucratically rejecting its fundamental purpose: of faith, in the case of the church, and education, in the case of the schools. No one is being educated here; facts are being swept under the rug. We all need to say no, you cannot hide this, you must own up to what's has happened so that it does not happen again.

As the New York Times family columnist Lisa Belkin points out, "It is agonizing to be the parent of a child who is being bullied. It should be just as agonizing to realize you have raised the child who is doing the bullying." We might extend that to say creating to a school environment rife with bullying should be agonizing as well. It's too bad South Hadley High School seems more defensive than agonized.