South Hadley High School

Coordinates: 42°13′40″N 72°35′11″W / 42.227663°N 72.586471°W / 42.227663; -72.586471
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South Hadley High School
South Hadley High School in 2012
Address
Map
153 Newton Street

01075

United States
Coordinates42°13′40″N 72°35′11″W / 42.227663°N 72.586471°W / 42.227663; -72.586471
Information
Type
Founded1870
SuperintendentMark McLaughlin (acting)
PrincipalElizabeth Wood
Staff45.69 (FTE)[2]
Grades9–12
Enrollment555 (2017–18)[2]
Student to teacher ratio12.15[2]
Color(s)   Orange & black
Team nameTigers
NewspaperSpotlight
YearbookGateway
TV ProgramTiger Times
Websitewww.southhadleyschools.org/SHPS

South Hadley High School is a secondary school in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States, for students in grades 9–12. The school has a student population of just over 500. The school's name is frequently referred to as "SHHS".

Phoebe Prince bullying incident[edit]

Having moved in 2009 to South Hadley from Ireland, Phoebe Prince was taunted and bullied for several weeks by at least two groups of students at South Hadley High School, following disputes with two girls in late December 2009.[4] On January 14, 2010, three students engaged in persistent taunting and harassment of Prince. Prince subsequently died by suicide by hanging herself in the family apartment. After her death, many crude comments about her were posted on her Facebook memorial page, most of which were removed.[5][6][7][8]

Other parents subsequently stated that bullying of their children had been completely ignored by the school administration. Massachusetts state lawmakers sped up efforts to pass anti-bullying legislation as a result.[9][10][11][12]

On March 29, 2010, two male and four female teenagers from South Hadley High School were indicted as adults on felony charges stemming from the incident, ranging from statutory rape, criminal harassment, stalking, juvenile delinquency, to assault with a deadly weapon.[13] [14][15][16][17][18][19]

The district attorney directly contradicted claims by the school superintendent that school officials had been unaware of the bullying:

Contrary to previously published reports, Phoebe's harassment was common knowledge to most of the South Hadley High School student body. The investigation has revealed that certain faculty, staff and administrators of the high school also were alerted to the harassment of Phoebe Prince before her death. Prior to Phoebe's death, her mother spoke with at least two school staff members about the harassment Phoebe had reported to her ... the actions or inactions of some adults at the school are troublesome.[20][21]

In May 2011, the case was resolved, after agreements to plead guilty to lesser charges. Five of the defendants were placed on probation, with several also sentenced to community service.[22] The charges against a male student were dropped at the request of the Prince family.[23] Prince's mother settled with the town of South Hadley in October 2010, in which she agreed not to sue or reveal details of the settlement.[24]

Notable alumni[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education - Error Page" (PDF). www.doe.mass.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-04-10.
  2. ^ a b c "South Hadley High". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  3. ^ "SAT Performance Report - School and District Profiles". Profiles.doe.mass.edu. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. September 20, 2018. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  4. ^ Cullen, Keven (May 5, 2011). "Actions not taken by peers could have saved young girl's life". Boston.com. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
  5. ^ "Phoebe Prince's Suicide : Cause of death revealed". Today24News. July 23, 2010. Archived from the original on July 25, 2010. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
  6. ^ E. Constantine, Sandra (April 10, 2010). "Bullying details outlined". The Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts). Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  7. ^ Nate Walsh, Court documents detail bullying of Phoebe Prince "Court documents detail bullying of Phoebe Prince". Archived from the original on 2010-07-26. Retrieved 2010-04-11. Note: additional information appears in the video posted on this news webpage, with glimpses of the actual court documents. The audio commentary for this video is incorrect about Longe throwing a bottle, as the video shot of the court document clearly shows it saying this was an empty can of "Monster Drink"
  8. ^ Eckholm, Erik; Zezima, Katie (2010-04-09). "Documents Detail a Girl's Final Days of Bullying". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  9. ^ Cullen, Kevin (January 24, 2010). "The untouchable Mean Girls". The Boston Globe. Boston.com. Archived from the original on April 14, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  10. ^ McCabe, Kathy (January 24, 2010). "Teen's suicide prompts a look at bullying". The Boston Globe. Boston.com. Archived from the original on April 4, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  11. ^ Constantine, Sandra (January 27, 2010). "In wake of Phoebe Prince's apparent suicide, hundreds pack South Hadley meeting to discuss bullying in schools". The Republican. Archived from the original on February 8, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  12. ^ Vaznis, James (January 26, 2010). "Beacon Hill lawmakers see urgent need for antibullying bill". The Boston Globe. Boston.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  13. ^ "Six teenagers, three juveniles charged in 'unrelenting' bullying of Phoebe Prince". Necn.com. 2010-03-29. Archived from the original on April 16, 2017. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  14. ^ Campbell, Matthew (March 29, 2010). "Teens Charged in Bullying Still At School". CBS 3 Springfield. Archived from the original on April 5, 2010.
  15. ^ Campbell, Matthew. "Teens Charged in Bullying Still At School". CBS 3 Springfield - News and Weather for Western Massachusetts | Local News. CBS 3 Springfield. Archived from the original on April 5, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  16. ^ Stephanie Reitz, 3 girls in Mass. bullying case plead not guilty http://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/04/08/3_girls_face_arraignment_in_mass_bullying_case/ Archived April 16, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ James Vaznis (March 29, 2010). "9 charged in death of South Hadley teen, who took life after bullying". The Boston Globe. Boston.com. Archived from the original on April 1, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  18. ^ "Northwestern D.A. announces indictments issued in bullying death". WGGB News. March 29, 2010. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  19. ^ CNN Wire Staff (March 29, 2010). "Prosecutor: 9 teens charged in bullying that led to girl's suicide". CNN.com. Archived from the original on April 1, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2010. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  20. ^ "Statement from Northwestern D.A. Elizabeth D. Scheibel". Boston Herald. March 30, 2010. Archived from the original on April 1, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  21. ^ Crimaldi, Laura (March 29, 2010). "DA: School knew of brutal bullying of Phoebe Prince -". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on April 1, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
  22. ^ Schworm, Peter (2011-05-06). "'Blind eye to bullying' over, DA says". Boston.com. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  23. ^ The Trials of Phoebe Prince ABC Documentary January 13, 2012
  24. ^ "South Hadley paid Phoebe Prince family $225,000 to avoid lawsuit over bullying". boston.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  25. ^ "Arthur Easterbrook Whittemore". Mass.gov. Retrieved 2019-12-26.
  26. ^ "South Hadley alum Don Abbey offers more than just moral support for Tigers". masslive.com. Retrieved February 3, 2018.