Based on 2009 data, about 31 percent of New Mexican students report being targets of bullying in school. In Santa Fe County, some 29 percent of eighth-graders and 26.5 percent of seventh-graders report being bullied. About 15 percent of Santa Fe middle-schoolers say that they have skipped school at least once because they felt unsafe.

"My slant is, it doesn't have to be this way," said Jenn Jevertson, program manager for the Santa Fe Mountain Center's Therapeutic Adventure Program. The nonprofit center offers creative learning experiences in nature to build self-esteem and self-expression.

Jevertson unveiled these bullying facts and figures during a Santa Fe Mountain Center presentation on bullying for parents, staffers and students Wednesday evening at Capshaw Middle School. Principal Todd Bibiano, Assistant Principal Clara Evans, and school counselor Nancy David set up the event.

Bullying remains at the forefront of parental concerns for their schoolchildren. First, children have to find the courage to report being bullied without fearing reprisals. Parents have to open lines of communication with their children so the latter know they can ask for help before the situation becomes untenable. School leaders must invest time into investigating each report and work with both parties to figure out what happened and why, and address the issue in a fair manner for all, which sometimes seems impossible.

It's not as easy as simply throwing all the bullies out of school -- as one school board member suggested late last year after hearing complaints of bullying at Aspen Community Magnet School -- though that type of action would probably please a lot of people.

Jevertson noted that not all reported conflicts between students qualify as bullying -- but deliberate and repeated aggressive behavior, be it physical or emotional, fits the bill. Social alienation from a group can qualify as bullying, as does the use of social media to intimidate, embarrass or harass someone.

David told the assembly that cyberbullying has changed the face of the issue in that it goes far beyond the confines of a school property or school hours. Evans said she's seen instances where adults get involved in these online disputes: "It gets very, very ugly."

Her personal opinion? Facebook is not appropriate for middle-schoolers. A parent at the event said parents should "friend" their children online and then ensure that other adult figures do the same in case the kid sets up a separate Facebook account away from parental eyes.

Some of the middle-school girls attending Wednesday's event said the type of bullying they most often witness is of the verbal variety, and there was general agreement that girls engage in this kind of behavior far more often than boys.

Bullying can result in fear, truancy, depression, violence and lower grade-point averages among students, Jevertson noted. She urged parents to access Santa Fe Public Schools' website Let's Talk Santa Fe (www.letstalksantafe.org) to help plan out some basic talking points between parents and kids on the topic.

Evans said parents should report any concerns regarding bullying to her and Bibiano. "We want to know. Please let us know immediately," she said. Jevertson said that once school staff are tipped off to any potential problems, they can start keeping a subtle eye on the kids in question.

"We can't protect our children from everything bad that happens to them, but we can teach them resiliency," Jevertson said.

Evans said the school hosted a similar presentation in Spanish last Monday. These school leaders are not claiming they can stamp bullying out, but they want to, and Capshaw's presentation certainly demonstrates the school's dedication to addressing the problems.