It's National Anti-Bullying Week and as we wait for an upcoming series of WGXC stories on the ways in which new statewide bullying mandates are playing out in both rural and urban communities around our coverage area, we've noticed that neighboring Ulster County provided students with a county-wide webcast from County Executive Michael Hein’s office on Monday, January 31, in which a number of community leaders discussed the signs of bullying, what to do about it, and then related personal stories about people who have been bullied. The Daily Freeman reports that in addition, Ulster County Public Health Director Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck offered some statistics about bullying, including the facts that one out of four kids is bullied, three out of 10 students in grades six through 10 are involved in a moderate or frequent amount of bullying, either as the bully or the victim of the bully, and that six out of 10 students age 13 to 18 have been verbally or physically harassed or assaulted during the past school year. Joakim Lartey, the director of training for the New York State Center for School Safety and a member of the Ulster County Human Rights Commission, said that eradicating bullying starts with the individual. Ulster County webinar on bullying