Ryan's Story in Mansfield Next Week

Ryan Halligan died by suicide on Oct. 7, 2003. He was bullied by classmates at school and online and suffered from depression. He was 13 years old.

His father John now tours the country as a spokesperson speaking out against bullying and cyber bullying and the need for more education in schools on the two topics. He will be presenting at Qualters Middle School and the High School on Jan. 23 and 24 respectively. There will be one presentation for each grade running from grades 8-10.

The Qualters Middle School Parent Advisory Council and the Mansfield Bank are putting on the presentation jointly.

"His message is that there were a lot of signs that he missed with his child," vice president of the PAC Lily Krentzman "His mission is that he doesn't want other parents to have the regrets that he has in missing those messages. I think that's one of the keys to this program."

Because of the funding received from the Mansfield Bank, the council was able to pay for the high school presentations as well as the middle school.

"It made sense, we thought, to move up to the ninth and tenth grade as apposed down to the sixth grade," Krentzman said.

There will also be an evening presentation geared towards parents on Jan. 24.Though parents are allowed to bring their children grades five and up, Krentzman said that, since the presentation is for parents, they would not recommend the evening session for children.

"I mentioned [the evening presentation] to a friend of mine Saturday night to a friend whose children are three and seven because someday she's going to face this," she said. "But I wouldn't have her bring her three-and-seven-year-old to the presentation."

The reason that cyber bullying is such a big issue today is that parents have very little experience as to what it's like growing up in the world of social media.

"We didn't have the life experience; we didn't deal with these issues when we were kids," said PAC treasurer Cindy Fernandez. "We can't look back and see what we did when we were kids. There's a definite learning curve."

The main issue of cyber bullying is that it can be anytime and anywhere. With accessibility not even limited to the lack of an Internet connection, such as on mobile devices, kids can be reached by bullies anywhere.

"It doesn't stop after school," Krentzman said.

John Halligan led the Vermont Bully Prevention Bill and the Suicide Prevention Education Bill in public schools. He has appeared on CBS's Morning Show, CNN, Inside Edition, Primetime with Diane Sawyer, Connect with Kids, BBC World Radio and PBS.

For more information on Ryan's Story, click here.