It was a charged room as many students and not so many parents gathered Thursday evening in Casper for a forum on the epidemic of bullying and its devastating consequences.

Natrona County School District sponsored the forum drawing together a panel of eight adult representatives from a range of agencies including law enforcement, safe schools, counseling agencies, the city of Casper and others.

Donna Mathern, former N.C. and Evansville school principal, in her opening comment said...

"I'm struck by the silence that children, teens, and maybe even adults have around  this issue of being bullied.  I'm struck by the unwilling bystanders who watch others and accept it as the norm.

I'm struck by the childhood link  to mental health issues like suicide, depression, eating disorders, violence toward self and others, and I'm really struck by the fact that both the bullied and the bullier are both in jeopardy."

This week on Report To Wyoming we'll run excerpts from last week's  forum on bullying.   That airs this Sunday, 7am on all of our Townsquare Stations and again at 9 pm on KTWO Radio AM 1030.

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