New York state is calling on schools to get tough against bullying and, judging from local school districts, the call is being heeded.

In fact, many anti-bullying efforts have been in practice for years. But administrators and educators say it's difficult, if not impossible, to gauge their effectiveness.

"This is hard to quantify because it is difficult to track instances that have been averted due to these programs," said Watkins Glen Superintendent Tom Phillips.

"What we can say is the climate of the building through use of discipline referral data has been much more positive in that a smaller percentage of the student population is being dealt with through the formal discipline procedure. This also speaks to the commitment of staff to deal with student issues as they arise rather than to simply 'write up' a student and refer it to the school administration. The impact of teacher intervention and involvement cannot be overstated," he said in an e-mail.

For all the good intentions, though, even the best of anti-bullying programs can't stop all bullying from happening, and clearly they haven't.

In the Elmira school district, for example, one woman said she's been trying for months to keep bullies from tormenting her young daughter. She told this newspaper that her efforts, which she said included conversations with administrators, a teacher and the school principal, as well as calls to police and elected officials, have all failed.

At one point, the woman, Pam Pettine of Pine City, said she was going to get a lawyer and take the district to court.

"I'm going to sue the living crap out of the school district and I'm going to win," she said. "I'm going to fight this tooth and nail. I'm the only voice that my children have."

Later, she decided that really wouldn't help her or her daughter, but it could hurt the school and the district. So she dropped the idea of a suit, pulled her girls out of the Pine City Elementary School and began home-schooling them two weeks ago.

"I decided that by me suing the school, I'm going to take away from the rest of the kids that are in the school," she said. "I have friends that have kids in the school, and I'm friends with some of the teachers.

"Even if I was to win, I would give the money back. They're having enough budget problems. I don't want to make it worse. I don't want to be the bad guy here."

Superintendent Joseph Hochreiter said through a spokeswoman that he and other employees can't comment on the case because of a district policy that prevents them from talking publicly about specific disciplinary problems.

Occasionally the worst happens. On Jan. 2, 15-year-old Amanda Cummings of Staten Island died from injuries she received when she jumped in front of a bus, carrying a suicide note. Relatives said she had been bullied for months by other girls at her school.

New York State's Dignity for All Students Act aims to put an end to such bullying. Signed into law in 2010, the measure takes effect July 1.

Commonly called the Dignity Act, it prohibits harassment and discrimination against students on school grounds and requires that teachers and staff members undergo training to learn how to recognize and deal with bullying.

But that still leaves those times off school grounds, those hours after school and on weekends. Times when teens and children socialize, or at least communicate with each other by e-mails, text messages, instant messages or through their Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or other social network accounts.

Bullying happens then, too. Cyberbullying it's called when it takes place in cyberspace, and it can be just as dangerous as the kind that happens in school hallways or playgrounds or buses.

"Kids now can't get away from it. It's 24-7," said Barbara Coloroso, a bestselling author, public speaker and consultant on parenting, teaching, school discipline, nonviolent conflict resolution and related topics.

Two years ago, 15-year-old Phoebe Prince was driven to suicide by bullies at her Massachusetts school. She hanged herself, drawing national attention to her case and to the problem.

The Dignity Act doesn't address cyberbullying, but legislation was introduced in Albany on Jan. 9 this year aimed at cracking down on cyberbullying. Sen. Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, said the bill would update the state's stalking and harassment laws to cover electronic bullying and allow for criminal charges in cyberbullying incidents under the state's hate crime statutes.

"Tragically, we're seeing modern technology used as a weapon, and our laws have not kept pace with that technology," Klein, sponsor of the bill in the Senate, said in a statement.

The Independent Democratic Conference, of which Klein is a member, launched the New York Cyberbully Census in October to track cases of cyberbullying.

Bringing awareness

Can legislation really help?

Coloroso thinks it can. She spoke on "The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander" — the title of one of her books — in Corning on Tuesday.

"It brings (the problem) to the fore and says we care about it," Coloroso said about laws like the Dignity Act.

"Laws help. The more awareness we have and the more we concern ourselves with deeply caring about one another, the less the law will be necessary," she said in a telephone interview.

"But we need to convince people, including educators, that this is serious enough that we cannot just let kids demean other human beings, or adults demean kids."

She said that if children can learn not to be bystanders, but to act against bullies and bullying, real progress will have been made.

"I want people to know they can raise a child to say, 'That's mean, that's cruel,'" she said.

"There's a big difference between conflict, which is normal and necessary, and bullying, which is none of those. It's showing contempt for another human being," she said. "We have to help young people care deeply about other human beings."

Bullying can be stopped, she said. "I believe it can. I've seen it where kids have stepped in and stopped it.

"You have to be taught to hate. I want to convince people that it's a learned behavior, and if it's learned it has to be taught."

Handouts that were available at her talk can be downloaded from Coloroso's website, www.kidsareworthit.com (from the title of another of her books, "kids are worth it!").

Small school, big plan

One of the region's smaller school districts has been perhaps one of the most aggressive and effective in fighting — or preventing — bullying, though Campbell-Savona Superintendent Kathy Hagenbuch doesn't look at her programs as necessarily anti-bullying.

"We really have programs that are supportive of positive values, good citizenship, and promoting well-rounded kids," she said.

The elementary grades have a "character education committee" of staff members that sponsors awareness activities, assemblies and other events throughout the school year.

Children can make a report when they see other kids doing nice things. Elementary students recite the school pledge every day, and it's posted throughout the building.

"We reach out our hands to help each other," it says in part. "We show respect for ourselves and others."

The junior/senior high school has a Character Club that "tends to really be a place for junior high kids to find a home," Hagenbuch said.

"What the research shows is that bullying really spikes in early to mid-adolescence," she said. "Their self-esteem is low."

Campbell-Savona provides a lot of "awareness activities" and promotes school values in both of its buildings, highlighting a different virtue each month, the superintendent said.

"We take bullying very seriously," she said. "We try to deal with it appropriately and respectfully. There's consistent and appropriate consequences for instances of bullying. Kids know it's not tolerated."

While Campbell-Savona is no more able than other districts to quantify the results of its programs, Hagenbuch said that over the past three or four years discipline referral rates in both schools have "plummeted."

"We have very few discipline referrals," she said. "It's incredibly low for the population. And they tend to be very minor, the ones we do have. It's as safe and respectful a school as you can have."

Hagenbuch said it no doubt helps that the district is small, with a total enrollment of about 980. (By contrast, Elmira, the region's largest district, has about 7,100 students.)

"We know our kids," Hagenbuch said. "Little schools have that advantage."

Parents 'a little more nervous'

The suicides mentioned above and some other high-profile cases have helped focus attention on bullying as a serious problem in the schools, said Christine Mecke, who oversees all the school counselors in the Elmira district as director of Pupil Personnel Services.

"The recent tragedies have really brought this to people's attention," Mecke said. "They're worried. They're a little more nervous about what it could lead to."

She said parents this school year have been "much more vocal" about bullying concerns than in the past.

Mecke said the Elmira district has anti-bullying programs and activities in every grade. They include a PBS (positive behavior support) program at all schools and a PRIDE (planning, respect, involved, do what's right, and excellence) program in the secondary schools.

But she acknowledged that bullying does happen, and that bullies sometimes have to be disciplined. Without getting into specifics, she said the case of Pam Pettine of Pine City and her bullied 10-year-old daughter is "very extreme."

"We deal with issues that are brought to our attention, swiftly," Mecke said. "It's something that we take very, very seriously."