Mass. school superintendent defends response to bullying, contradicts prosecutor’s allegations

Mass. school head defends response to bullying

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. — A Massachusetts school superintendent is defending his administration’s handling of bullying that prosecutors say contributed to a 15-year-old girl’s suicide.

South Hadley Superintendent Gus Sayer said Wednesday that high school officials disciplined students heard to insult and harass Phoebe Prince. But he says the faculty didn’t know the extent of the bullying until a week before Prince hanged herself on Jan. 14.

Sayer’s comments contradict the allegations of District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel, who said school officials knew about the harassment but did little to intervene.

Nine students are charged in connection to Prince’s death. Sayer, in his first comments since the indictments, said those students are the same ones identified in a school investigation.