There were between zero and 22 reported incidents of bullying last school year in each of St. Joseph County’s high schools. And some of the area’s elementary and middle schools reported higher numbers than the high schools.
Overall, St. Joseph County schools reported 655 incidents of bullying in 2014-15 compared with 959 the year before.
For the past two years, traditional public schools have been legally required to submit data on bullying, which the state defines as overt, repeated, unwanted acts or gestures that have the intent to harass, ridicule, humiliate, intimidate, or harm a student.
The Indiana Department of Education recently published the data from last school year on its website.
Daniel Altman, a spokesman for the state department, cautioned again this year, as he did last year, that it’s still too early to draw many broad generalizations about the data, especially since some schools have not submitted reports.
Altman said the mandatory data collection has given the state the opportunity to work with schools in how to identify bullying and also to provide them resources, when needed.