National Summit Takes Closer Look At Bullying Issues
WASHINGTON, D.C. (CBS) -- Government leaders, teachers, parents and students are at a second national summit on Wednesday taking another look at growing bullying problem.
One student who said she was bullied had some advice for parents and students who find themselves in her situation. Paige Logan was in eighth grade when a group of girls started bullying her after she won a local beauty pageant.
"They were posting bad things about me on the social network and saying bad things about me at school," she said.
Paige's mother said it went from bad to worse.
"She would be crying 'please home school me, do anything, don't make me go to school,'" Patti Logan said.
"When it happened I just started going down and down, where I didn't want to go to school anymore and my grades started slipping," Paige said.
She is not alone. Studies show as many as 1-in-4 students is frequently bullied, and it's not just physical. Most of the time it's verbal.
With the explosion of social networking sites like Facebook, more than 40 percent of young people report cyber-bullying, sometimes leading to depression and even suicide.
That's why the U.S. Department of Education invited victims like Paige to share their stories at this national summit. The government is working on a national strategy to prevent bullying, and they're getting help from social media companies.
They're also getting help from artists. A playwright turned the words of bullied teens who took their own lives into a stage production.
Paige just started her junior in high school and has been able to put the episode behind her. That's in part because school officials stepped in to help stop the bullying.
"It's okay to talk about, don't hold it in, that's what leads to peer pressure," Paige said.
She said she wants to let other young people know there is help and they aren't alone.
Following last year's bullying summit the government launched the web site stop-bullying.gov with information for students, parents, and teachers to prevent and stop bullying.
