As a new school year begins, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office is aiming to get the word out about cyberbullying.

“Education is the biggest thing,” said Special Assistant Attorney General George Neville, who spoke on the subject during a Vicksburg Kiwanis Club meeting.

“We have a youth services division to combat cyberbullying,” he said. “Bullying is much easier through text(ing).”

Cyberbullying is when a child or teen uses the Internet, cell phone or other type of social media to harass, embarrass or taunt another child or teen.

A 2006 report by the National Crime Prevention Council posted on the State Attorney General’s Office’s website says four in 10 teens have experienced some form of cyberbullying.

The AG’s youth services division offers classes to help parents and children understand and cope with bullying, Neville said.

The Vicksburg Warren School District has no organized program to combat cyberbullying, “but we do incorporate it in everything we do,” said Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Duran Swinford. “We don’t have it as a major problem here, but I’m not saying it’s not going to happen.”

The 8,500 – student district, which began classes Monday, has distributed information to parents, Swinford said, and teachers offer prevention tips in their homeroom newsletters.

Much of the bullying, she added, occurs when class isn’t in session — on the Internet or via cell phone.

Porters Chapel Academy, whose 220 students also started classes Monday, addresses bullying as individual cases come up, headmaster Doug Branning said.

“We try to resolve it at that point,” Branning said. “I don’t know how much of that is going on, but I’m sure things can go on under the radar.”

Vicksburg Catholic School, whose 588 students started classes today, offers a cyberbullying prevention program, guidance counselor Kim Stribling said.

A 2010 report by the Cyberbullying Research Center said 25 percent of girls are more likely to have experienced bullying compared to 16 percent of boys. Also, 21.1 percent of girls are more likely to report cyberbullying compared to 18.3 percent of boys, the study said. Also, girls are more likely to spread rumors via text, social media and e-mail while boys are more likely to post harmful pictures or videos.

Mississippi’s cyberstalking law makes it a felony to use electronic communication to threaten bodily harm to a person or harm to his or her family or property; communicate repeatedly in order to threaten, terrify or harass a person; and make false statements concerning death, injury, illness, criminal conduct or indecent conduct. The state also defines bullying as including harassing e-mails or threatening messages online.

A conviction can lead to a maximum fine of $5,000 or two years in jail.