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Teen Death Puts Spotlight On Cyberbullying
Anchorage School District says it won't tolerate online harassment
By Kate McPherson
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ANCHORAGE - Amanda Todd was 15 years old when she took her own life outside Vancouver on Wednesday.
The Canadian teen posted a heartbreaking account of her troubles on YouTube five weeks before she committed suicide.
The video detailed how she was bullied, including on Facebook.
"It's shocking the things that students sometimes will do to each other when they think they can get away with it online,” said Lisa Prince, principal at Central Middle School in Anchorage.
The Anchorage School District takes the issue of bullying very seriously.
“Something what was done on a Saturday night in someone's home, in their bedroom, could actually be a jurisdictional issue with the school district,” she said.
The school district encourages students and parents to document the harassment.
“We will have students that bring in, or families, harassing emails, harassing Facebook messages,” said Principal Prince.
School officials say they will discipline students who bully on any platform -- including text messages, emails, Facebook, as well as on school grounds.
“We have work detail, we have detentions, we have in-school suspension, there's out of school suspension and then ultimately there is expulsion from ASD,” said Patty Hynes, Assistant Principal at Central Middle School.
