It is good to see that the Jamestown Public Schools board and Superintendent Bret Apthorpe are taking bullying in the district seriously.

Bullying has been a longstanding issue, to varying degrees, in most schools. But the problem forced its way into the front of the public’s consciousness earlier this school year when one Jamestown girl committed suicide that family members said was caused in part by bullying. Apthorpe discussed with board members last week the district’s anonymous reporting system — thus far, 85 complaints have been made with 33 of them deemed to be an incidence of bullying.

While we aren’t sure all incidents are being reported, it is good to see that the district is publicly discussing the numbers it has and the way that it is dealing with these incidents.

In addition to the reporting system, Jamestown High School has started an anti-bullying club that will be taking on the duty of assigning the school with a “bully reporting app.” District officials made a good decision having students test the app, since they will be the ones using the app. And, we note school resource officers in the district met recently with the Jamestown City Council PTSA to discuss cyberbullying. Ron Powers, the school resource officer in the middle schools, and J.R. Buesink, Jamestown High School resource officer, talked about what cyber bullying is, recognizing the signs of cyber bullying in children, the different vehicles of cyber bullying and how they are used, tactics that students use to cyber bully and preventative measures. The officers also offered tips for parents on how to ensure that their child is not cyber bullied.

It would have been easy for the district to simply let the public discussion over bullying fade away. Kudos to district officials for not taking the easy road.