Bullying cases drop in school

Off campus tells another story

South Florida schools say they are striking a blow against bullies, with the number of reported incidents dropping dramatically.

But many victims and their advocates say those numbers don’t reflect what happens online or off campus.

“I get more calls now than last year,” said Lowell Levine, founder of the Stop Bullying Now Foundation, a national group based in North Palm Beach. “I speak to parents all the time and they are more and more concerned about the safety of their children because of harassment, discrimination and abuse, which all leads up to bullying.”

While schools admit to limitations off campus, they say better teacher training, student intervention programs and more precise reporting have led to large declines in incidents on campus. For example:

In Palm Beach County, bullying and harassment reports fell from 2,115 five years ago to 938 last year, according to figures sent to the state.

In Miami-Dade County, reports fell from 802 to 441 during the same period.

In Broward County, reported incidents went from 690 to 108.

The figures generally have been trending down each year in the three districts.

“I do believe the policies and programming that districts are implementing are making a dif-