CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Fewer students in Cheyenne-area schools are reporting being bullied than a year and a half earlier.

The Cheyenne Tribune Eagle reported Sunday the number of girls in Laramie County School District 1 who said they’d been bullied several times a week dropped to 4.7 percent from 8.6 percent. The number of boys dropped to 4.6 percent from 8.4 percent.

Chris Zimny, who works on district violence prevention programs, says students were surveyed in January 2012 and again last fall.

The percentage of students who told someone when they were being bullied declined, however. For boys, the percentage dropped to about 54 percent from 67 percent. For girls, it dropped to 64 percent from 71 percent.

Zimny says that’s concerning because it reflects what he called a culture of silence.

  by  Working Word