Youth Services Director Speaks About Anti-Bullying Bill

Jon Mattleman on how he believes the bill, signed this week by Governor Patrick, will help and what still needs to be done.

Key officials in Massachusetts, including Governor Deval Patrick, are hoping that a bill signed this week will take a landmark stance against bullying and make the lives of countless children a little easier. Jon Mattleman, director of Needham Youth Services, believes that the bill is a positive step, but that no one should believe it will be a cure-all. Public sadness and outrage came to a head earlier this year with the death of Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old who moved to South Hadley after living in Ireland. Students at Prince's new school relentlessly tormented her and on Jan. 14, after months of enduring harassment and taunting, Prince hanged herself in her family apartment. Even after Prince's death, students who harassed her took to …