I have just become aware of this story, (Yes, I live in a cave. lol!) and have read through several stories all the way back to the first report of this and have conflicting outlooks on this.

I have been on the fence when it comes to the school officials. They 'claim' to not have known about any issues until a week prior to Phoebe taking her own life. How that is possible when the harrasment had been going on for months is suspicious to say the least. Should the school officials be charged with something? Possibly. But that's really hard to do when we may never know if they truly knew and did nothing or if they really had no clue.

As for the parents of the children that had done the bullying. Should they be charged? Again, I have been on the fence. I am of the opinion that this type of behavior starts at home. Education of EVERY sort begins at home. It is a learned behavior. Yes, some people are more likely to act in such a manner but if it is reinforced through learned action within the home - you can bet they will become that person.

However, had those parents been aware of their children doing such things - who is to say if they would have put stop to it?

When it comes down to it - few, if any, knew what was going on because Phoebe herself did not bring the problem to adults for help. Were her own parents aware of the issues? If so, why didn't they make the school aware and force them to take action? Or taken the problem straight to their source - to the childrens parents and put them on the spot to deal with their brat children.

I am stunned this went to the point it did. All of us have been bullied to one extent or another growing up. All of us handle it in different ways. This should NEVER have gone to this far but it is my opinion that the school nor the parents of those kids should be charged with anything UNLESS it is proven they had knowledge of what was going on further in advance than a week.