So should all the adults who ignored the bullying.
I haven't followed this case closely, but if her mother was aware that Phoebe was experiencing severe stress at school, she should have pulled her out of there. I recall reading about a case in NJ a couple of years ago, where a boy was being bullied at school, including physical injuries. The mother had gone to school officials multiple times, but nothing seemed to change. Finally she'd gone to the media and I believe also filed suit. But she was STILL sending the poor kid to the school.
Our society seems to have a very warped view of the role of school in the lives of children and teenagers, as if it's absolutely indispensible, no matter how much harm it's clearly doing to the child. When things are this bad with a teenager (i.e. old enought o stay home alone), if you're not in a position to switch the child to a private school or to homeschool, just have them stay home -- encourage them to do some studying or reading, but even if they just watch TV or play video games all day, that's a lot better than being beaten up or psychologically bullied to the point of feeling suicidal.
I also wondered why the mother did not pull her out of the school. Maybe she tried and was denied and did not have the resources to send her to a private school. Or she did not know how bad the bullying was.
No doubt! Every adult and every parent or family member who were aware of this should be held accountable to some degree.
Should have, would have, could have won’t cut it!
My daughter would have been pulled out immediately. This whole thing stinks. A 15 year old child should not have to endure this kind of pressure and insecurity when they are just learning how to cope with adult decisions. That schmuck football player didn’t help either.
Sad world we live in.
When I was in school teachers did NOTHING to stop bullying. Ever. In fact, they were often friendliest with those who did the bullying. My guess is nothing much has changed.
Exactly. All we hear about is the school didn’t do this and the school didn’t do that. But I haven’t heard that her parents did anything either. Pull her out of school if nothing else. You better believe I’d have been up at that school and in some faces. BTDT and am proud to have a rep of “one of those moms.”
Most parents trivialize it or their kids don’t tell them. Or if they do, the bullies will retaliate worse.
Public education is not worth the grief. It’s certainly not worth getting physically attacked. I hope the mother sues the crap out of the administration and school board. I don’t care if people complain that suing will just raise school taxes. Too damn bad. Maybe the taxpayers will smarten up and see who they have running these Lord of the Flies public schools.
I hope these kids are hounded forever.