Phoebe Prince committed suicide on Jan 14th due to bullying at school and online.

A workshop about internet safety was held at Belmonte Middle School last Thursday. Around 30 parents attended the workshop that discussed the rapidly growing issue of cyber bullying.

The event was headed by Josh Gunderson who had led events like these several times, once for students around the New England and then Saugus High the following day.

Gunderson comments that kids these days get around anything and everything so that site blocking softwares rarely work. The main solution is to educate them instead. Saugus Youth and Recreation Director Greg Nickolas adds that learning about internet safety is important so when kids do access social networking sites, they are already aware of the consequences and potential risks of using these sites.

He cited two example of serious risks involved when using these social networking. One was the 2006 report about two Texas High School seniors who made a MySpace.com page in the name of their head baseball coach where players on the team put slanderous comments on the Myspace page about their coach and his family.

Another example Gunderson made was the case of a teen named Phoebe Prince. Phoebe Prince was a South Hadley, MA teen who committed suicide after months of continuous bullying online and in person. The bullying did not stop even after her death. Some of her tormenters continued posting cruel messages on a memorial page that was created for her on Facebook. Even if the nine teens involved have since been charged with crimes ranging from stalking to statutory rape, it is a poor consolation to the death of Phoebe Prince.

“Kids can get in trouble and suddenly their futures are gone,” he said. “Your future seems so far off [when you’re in high school], but college and the rest of your life is right around the corner and it comes faster than we’d like.” Gunderson says.

Nickolas is hoping to formalize the program over the next year and create an Internet Safety elective where high school kids become mentors and work on such topics with younger kids. Gunderson says the elective will be similar to his workshops. School superintendents and principals support the idea.