Bullied to Death? School Responds: Join the Live Chat
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/01/02/liveblogfinal.copy.jpg]
Tonight on 360°, a Massachusetts school accused of not doing enough to stop bullying. The DA says the bullying led 15-year-old Phoebe Prince to kill herself. Tonight the Superintendent of South Hadley Schools responds. He speaks out in a prime-time exclusive. Plus, we continue our special investigation on the Church of Scientology.
Scroll down to join the live chat during the program. It's your chance to share your thoughts on tonight's headlines. Keep in mind, you have a better chance of having your comment get past our moderators if you follow our rules.
Here are some of them:
1) Keep it short (we don't have time to read a "book")
2) Don't write in ALL CAPS (there's no need to yell)
3) Use your real name (first name only is fine)
4) No links
5) Watch your language (keep it G-rated; PG at worst - and that includes $#&*)
About this Show:
Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news. Tune in weeknights at 8 and 10 ET on CNN.
Questions or comments? Send an email
Want to know more? Go behind the scenes with AC361°
Subscribe to the podcast
On Twitter
Search the AC360 blog
I love Rick. He is my day time CNN favorite. Anderson your Mom is adorable
Good night Andrew and the Mc Crew .
Good night Anderson Cooper, AC360, Guests, CNN Staffers and fellow bloggers. Good show tonight Anderson Cooper, thank-you.
Thankyou, Rick Sanchez!!!
Love it Rick! Anderson will never be able to live down his loss to Cheech "Up in Smoke" Marin!
First of all, the people on the show are obviously dissenters. As Coopers says, "these allegations can neither be proved nor negated". As an religion grows, you are going to have people (statistically speaking) who have disagreements of their own wrong-doing that they blame on their chuch.
How great to have Rick Sanchez on the show!!!
I love that birthday greeting from Anderson's mother. There's hardly anything more fun than watching Anderson squirm. 🙂
Good Night Everyone! Pleasant dreams!
Loved that talk with your mother Anderson!
You two are hilarious! That's good to end the evening!
Anderson!!!!
LOL!!!!!! stop teasing Rick the shot!!! LOL!!!!! Very funny Rick!!!!! That is my favorite is Anderson's B_day!!! LOL!!!!
You have to give it to Rick to start the Moma jokes .
LOL-Mom can always humiliate us all!
Rick got you Anderson,,,,,,April fool's...
LOL with Rick Sanchez
I actually appreciate Rick because in one of these stunts he showed us how to get out of a car when it's submerged. I've always wondered how to do that.
The Church of Scientology is just another cult – it's so obvious...
These bungling militiamen appear to have made a big mistake, accepting a undercover FBI agent in their midst, getting drunk and being taped when voicing their imagined pipe-dreams and anti-govt. rants.
How many ministers and clerics voice anti-govt. rants in America, round them up also? Seems fair if that is the direction headed here. Close the bar's across America? Patrons often voice anti-govt. rants in them also.
ha ha...Rick Sanchez...looks like a set up
@Karoline, Los Angeles, "some kids are one way at home and another way when they are out with their buddies."
I am sure they are, but I think if a parent raises a kid to be confident and to think for themselves they will not need to become part of a group or clique to feel important. I know I never felt the need.
Sad to see the end results of bullies and their effect on the people they are tormenting.
This needs to stop and the schools should be held accountable.
@JoAnn...really when you think about it all religions are cults. Some are more credible simply because they've survived longer and have gotten traction. But, with few exceptions, they pretty much all teach using hearsay and overly interpreted references. My belief is that they all teach that persons outside of their religion are lesser or "not right," somehow.
I can't get this out of my head.
And how the administration is shrugging it off like it's nothing.
They're supposed to protect their students for Pete's sake. And they don't even care?! It's sickening, absolutely appalling.
I was bullied for years, and my mom and I repeatedly told the principles, but nothing was ever done because the bullying continued. After a while, I stopped telling them, and they knew about it, and again nothing was done.
This school needs to own up to what they have failed to do.
Hey Rick is here! It's late for him!
I find it odd that the media is acting like bullying is a new phenomenon. I was bullied in elementary school in the 1960s, and in my last year of high school I became suicidal. However, I don't think kids get to the point where they consider suicide unless there are multiple layers of distress in their lives. For me, my home life was impossible to deal with, and I had no one to turn too. Phoebe (and I) were not attacked randomly; bullies find the vulnerable.
that is a very catchy tune ... kind of grows on ya! nite all.
My daughter was bullied. When I spoke with her school I asked them if they have a zero tollerence policy for bullying. The said it depends on the circumstance of the bullying. I then asked the principle if they had a zero tollerence policy for sexual harrassment like I have at my place of work. He said only for the faculty not the students. I told the principle that maybe the school should have policies in place for the students like it was a professional business environment. After all, our childeren will need to learn professionalisim at some point in their lives. Why not now?
The ex-wives sound brain-washed to me, Jo Ann.
I think Gus Sayer should keep his mouth shut...it seems pretty obvious that he is not being truthful about what the school and some teachers/staff knew about what was going on!
Give the wives a lie detector test. Then we can believe what and who you want. These women are protecting this cult. One of many cults but this one just happens to be the richest of all and seems pretty powerful too.
L. Ron Hubbard the founder of this "religion" once said something to the effect that if you want to make a million start a religion" which clearly he did.
Oh please...some churches do encourage you disconnect ...whether it be scientology or another religion...it does happen. I have seen it happen at the church I went to for years. I no longer go to that church.
if someone was attacking my church I wouldnt want to talk to them either...
The spokesman for scientology reminds me of a car salesman.
Re: the Scientologist spokespeople ny experience tells me that anytime someone responds to a question in such a fervent, defensive manner, that there is not a lot of credibility in their perspective or they are just down right lying. I believe these people believe what they are saying and have convinced themselves they are telling the truth, kind of pathological I guess?
@Bill Tillman
Excellent point. The "authorities" and so called "experts" have taken away power and control from adults and given it to children. That goes against nature and we all have to suffer the consequences. Now we just live in a world where the blind is leading the blind.
Some of this sounds a lot like what we heard about the polygamists.
This sounds so much more like a cult than I had previously imagined. This "disconnection" is so cultish. Sounds like alot of fear, anger, and intimidation.