Bullying.. a worldwide epidemic..

Nine teenagers charged for bullying classmate who later committed suicide

Nine teenagers were charged on Monday, March 29 for the “unrelenting” bullying of a 15-year-old girl from Ireland who ended up killing herself after being raped and tormented for months in Northampton, Mass.

Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel said that the teen, Phoebe Prince of South Hadley, had been stalked and tormented both in person and on-line since she had started school in September. Prince committed suicide on January 14.

"The investigation revealed relentless activities directed toward Phoebe to make it impossible for her to stay at school. The bullying for her was intolerable," Scheibel said.

There are six teens (four girls, two boys) who are facing charges including statutory rape, assault, criminal harassment, violation of civil rights resulting in injury and stalking. The other three who were charged in Prince’s case are younger teenage girls who will now face charges of delinquency.

Even though Phoebe Prince’s school officials were aware of the bullying none of them will face any charges. Scheibel also stated that, "The actions of these students were primarily conducted on school grounds during school hours and while school was in session."

District Attorney Scheibel said that Phoebe’s family has since moved away from the area in western Massachusetts and spoke on their behalf.

"The Prince family has asked that the public refrain from vigilantism in favor of allowing the judicial system an opportunity to provide a measure of justice for Phoebe," according to Sheibel.



Bullies often bully students who are lonely. They do it over and over, but the students usually don't tell anybody they are being bullied because they are afraid of the bullies.

These students don't know how to stop the bullies and are very unhappy. Some don't see a solution and don't want to be bullied any more, so they decide to commit suicide.

A 14-year-old girl in Canada was bullied all the time by three girls in her class. The girls even called her on the telephone to bully her. She was afraid to stand up to them and never told anyone about the situation. She was miserable and didn't want to be bullied again, so she killed herself.

A 14-year-old boy in Canada was also bullied a lot. He was miserable, but he did not talk to anyone either. Finally, he wrote a note to his parents. He told them that he was scared of the bullies and didn't know what to do. Then he jumped off a bridge.

In England, a 13-year-old girl was bullied because she was very tall. She was scared of the bullies, but she also never told anybody what the bullies was doing. She was so unhappy that she committed suicide.

These young students were lonely and unhappy. They did not know how to stop the bullies, so they killed themselves. We need to notice when students are victims and desperate. Then we can help them before they decide to commit suicide.


DESIRE' NICOLE DREYER

Cheer Angel 2006
Born April 3, 1989 / Died January 18, 2006
by Suicide / Depression
Reflections by Donna Dreyer, Desire's mom:

"My daughter, Desire' Dreyer attended Glen Este High School in Amelia, Ohio. She was a varsity cheerleader, had a personality that we all only wish we could possess, had a smile that would take your breath away, had a heart of gold and had more friends than any of us will ever have in this lifetime. But on a cold wintery day, January 18, 2006 she took her own life, the day I died inside. She was being bullied by a group of girls from her school. When we moved to Amelia Ohio four years ago, my daughter had a few issues with the move, but she seemed to have adjusted when she started making new friends, made the cheerleading squad and met a young man, the boyfriend of her dreams.

But there were a few girls that just could not leave well enough alone.

My daughter had a few health issues, sometimes her and her boyfriend fought, sometimes we fought about the usual teenage stuff, (her staying out to late, keeping her grades up), the bullies teased her about these things, they even harassed her about having it all, (meaning she had a loving family, nice home, was a varsity cheerleader and a handsome boyfriend, (a running back for the varsity football team). These girls threw things at her in classrooms (while the teachers turned their heads and walked out of the classroom), chased her into the girl’s restrooms at school and told her if "it" didn't happen inside of school it would outside of school. There were other incidents of a group of girls that followed her home from Homecoming in 2005 and threatened her in front of our house. The bullies even went as far as to be waiting on her one night when the school bus she was on (the cheerleaders had to ride the bus to away football games) arrived back at her High School. They followed her to a local restaurant and surrounded her car. My daughter called the police from her cell phone.

This is the kind of bullying my daughter had to endure. While I knew of some of these issues, I did not know the extent of the bullying. I was told by the small school principal that the problem was taken care of, only to find out the group of girls did not stop. My daughter did not want to go to school, her grades dropped drastically, she became severely depressed. I did not know that the bullying was the cause; if only I had known then what I know now, if only I had known that all the signs she portrayed were signs of being bullied, which lead her to depression, which in turn led her to suicide.

The school has tried to brush this under the rug since the day she took her life. They told the students at the school they were not allowed to take the day off for her funeral. They told the students they could show no signs that my daughter even existed. (For example, some students had written Desire's name on the back window of their cars, had dog tags made up with her picture and name on them - the students were told that if they had her name on their car windows they would not be allowed to park in the school parking lot. They were told to remove the dog tags). The school will not even allow us to place a bench on school property in Desire’s memory, but there are other benches, trees, shadow boxes, etc at the school for all other students that have passed away.

The only time we have spoken with any of the school personnel is when my husband and I approached the Board of Education. They never once approached us regarding any of the bullying that was going on at the school. We feel as if they just want to brush the whole bullying issue under the rug and move on. They don’t have the decency to admit to the public that they should have taken appropriate action against the bullies, instead they gave them a slap on their hands and sent them back to class with my daughter, the same classes my daughter begged them to remove her from but they would not.

The West Clermont School District has initiated a program called the Olweus Bullying Program. The program is geared towards training school personnel and students how to handle bullying situations. Although, I strongly believe that this program will not work if school personnel, students and parents do not play a major role.

I just wish for a half of a second the school administration and the bullies could see how it feels to be in my shoes, to make yourself get out of bed everyday by the grace of God and go into Desire’s bed room just to hope that maybe, just maybe this has all been a bad dream, but then only to see that she is not there. Our house is so empty, her laughter that was once is no more, quite often I find I cannot take the silence. There is a heavy weight that is a constant on my shoulders. I die inside over and over everyday. I see her and think about her in everything I say and do. There is no rhyme or reasoning left in my life. Things that mattered before don't even have a place in my life anymore. The only thing that keeps me going at this point is I know that some day I will see her again".

* I could share a lot more stories about teenagers who committed suicide because of bullying but I think you get the point. This has become a worldwide epidemic but my only question is when will this ever end? How many kids still have to die until the school or even the government makes a move. WHEN? WHEN? I hope the answer will be... NOW!