Today Show Jessica Barba was suspended after creating a Facebook page and video about a fictional 12-year-old, hoping to raise awareness about bullying. 
 
 A Long Island high school teen hoped her anti-bullying video would make an impact, and it did — she was suspended. Now school officials say they're lifting the punishment. 
 
 Jessica Barba, 15, wrote, filmed and acted in the video for an assignment on persuasive speech at Longwood High School in Middle Island. 
 
 The video tells the story of a fictitious character, 12-year-old ‘Hailey Bennett,’ played by Jessica, who becomes depressed after she’s repeatedly bullied at school and online. It ends with a caption saying the girl committed suicide. 
 
 There is a disclaimer at the beginning and end of the video explaining the events are not real. 
 
 The suspension sparked controversey at the school and made national headlines after Jessica and her parents claimed it was unfair. School officials said Thursday they will wipe the suspension from Jessica's record and let her return to school, NBC News reported. 
 
 A spokeswoman told NBC News the school district cannot comment. 
 
 Jessica posted the video on YouTube May 15. The next day, it was the talk of Longwood High. Some students were disturbed by the video and even moved to tears, WNBC/Ch. 4 New York reported. 
 
 She was called into the principal’s office expecting to be praised for doing a great job on the project, but instead was suspended for five days. 
 
 “I was baffled. I couldn’t even describe how I was feeling,” she told the station. ‘I started hysterically crying. I couldn’t believe I was getting in trouble for something I had worked so hard on. And the only intent of it was good.” 
 
 Jessica Barba 
 
 Jessica also created a Facebook page for the bullied girl, which she said was labeled as fiction. The page is full of hateful messages meant to depict cyber-bullying in the video. 
 
 On the page the character, ‘Hailey,’ posted alarming comments like “I hate myself” and “I wanna be dead,” WNBC/Ch. 4 reported. 
 
 A concerned parent saw the Facebook page and not realizing it was fake, called police, Jessica’s parents told the “Today” show during an appearance Wednesday. 
 
 The page was taken down by the school. 
 
 The superintendent of Longwood School District released a statement saying the video was “unfortunate in that it created a substantial disruption to the school,” WNBC/Ch. 4 reported. He said he could not comment further on a matter involving a student. 
 
 Meanwhile the teen did not back down, and told the station she believes the video highlights an important issue. “I just created the video in order to raise awareness of the major issue that’s bullying,” Jessica told “Today.” 
 
 The school held a suspension hearing Thursday and decided to let Jessica return to school. They will also wipe the suspension from her record. 
 
 The decision was just what Michael Barba had hoped for. "I'm the proudest father in the world," told NBC News. ||||| LEBANON, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee high school student's anti-bullying video has resulted in nearly 600,000 views on YouTube and a suspension for its creator. 
 
 Lebanon High School student Emily Gipson said school administrators accused her of "trying to incite violence" and gave her a two-day in-school suspension for the video entitled "Welcome to Lebanon High School," posted Jan. 22. 
 
 In the video, prompted by a classmate's October suicide, she asks students to treat each other better. It's a broad indictment of campus culture, but contains neither profanity nor calls for direct action. 
 
 "Welcome to Lebanon High School, where smiles are fake and suicide prevention is something to laugh at," she said in the video, criticizing her peers' reaction to the Stop It app the Wilson County school had put out in response to the death. 
 
 Her ire was not restricted to students, however. Perhaps the harshest words in Gipson's free-verse speech were reserved for school administration. 
 
 "Posters say 'Smile' and 'Be happy,' but how am I supposed to be happy in a world — no, in a community — where creativity is put down, where the people who make fun of others never get punished because 'There's no proof,' or 'There's nothing we can do about it,' or, my favorite, 'Kids will be kids,'" she says in the video. 
 
 "So let's summarize: We're expected to come to this emotional prison every day, and we're expected to forgive the bullies because the authorities are sure they didn't mean it. Sometimes I wonder how many kids it takes dying to make a difference." 
 
 Principal Scott Walters told The Lebanon Democrat he can't discuss the 16-year-old's punishment, but said he took issue with the fact that the free-verse speech was recorded in a classroom without a teacher's permission. Gipson disputed that, saying she had two coaches' permission. 
 
 Walters also said the video hurt his feelings, and those of teachers, too. 
 
 He said he's received feedback from parents and students who didn't agree with the video, including a gift from a student who told him he was doing a good job. He also said people could learn from Gipson's viewpoint. 
 
 "I can appreciate the perspective of the video," Walters said. "Of course, she's 16, and her perspective is going to be different from mine." 
 
 Kenneth Gipson, her grandfather and guardian, said the principal told him the only reason the teen was punished was because she didn't have permission to take the video on school grounds. "I don't have a problem with that. She violated their policies," he told The Associated Press 
 
 But Gipson says he's proud of his granddaughter for expressing herself. 
 
 "I applaud her for taking a stance. She's speaking against something that is obviously an issue in today's society — today's schools especially. I don't have a problem with the videos at all. I wish she hadn't of done the first one the way she did it inside the classroom, but as far as the message goes, I'm all for the message. I think she's done a great job in bringing to light a very sensitive and needed subject." 
 
 Gipson said her punishment is worth the good she feels the video has produced. 
 
 Then she posted another spoken-word poem on Youtube, titled "Have I Made a Difference Yet?" urging teenagers like her to speak up. 
 
 "I never knew that it would get this big, and through it getting this big I've learned a lesson: This is not my school, this is everyone's school, this is a national problem," she said.
– A Long Island teenager was stunned when school officials suspended her for creating an anti-bullying video that featured a fictional character who commits suicide. Jessica Barba, 15, wrote, filmed, and acted in the six-minute video for a class project. In the video, she plays a character who's bullied by classmates. The film ends with a caption that the character has committed suicide. When she was called into the principal's office, she expected to be praised for her work; instead she was suspended for five days, reports the New York Daily News. "I started hysterically crying. I couldn’t believe I was getting in trouble for something I had worked so hard on. And the only intent of it was good," Jessica told WNBC-TV. Her film is clearly marked as "fiction." Jessica also created a Facebook page featuring her character, which was also labeled as fictional. But an alarmed parent contacted the school, which took down the page (after Jessica said she was pressured to turn over her password) and suspended Jessica. The superintendent of the Longwood school district said the video "created a substantial disruption to the school." Jessica's dad, Michael Barba, said he's proud of his daughter and is fighting the suspension at a hearing today, reports Newsday.