Oct. 15 is Spirit Day to stop bullying

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - October 15 is Spirit Day, a national movement to stop bullying against LGBT youth. People are encouraged to wear purple in support of the cause.  GLADD-- the world’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy organization-- is the spearhead of the campaign with millions of people around across the globe expected to take part. 

In New Jersey, education officials say overall incidents of violence in public schools are down, as are incidents of bullying.

The details are included in the Violence, Vandalism and Substance Abuse report released Tuesday. It notes the declines reported for the 2014-2015 school year come as anti-bullying programs and training programs have increased.

The annual report shares self-reported incidents from districts that include violence, vandalism, weapons offenses, substance offenses, and harassment, intimidation and bullying.

Schools reported 18,332 violent incidents overall, a 4 percent decrease from the 2013-14 school year. About one-third of all incidents were categorized as harassment, intimidation, or bullying, which is down 5 percent.

The report shows the number of bullying incidents peak at the middle school level, as seen in previous years.

With the Associated Press