State Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto has called for more information sharing between the police, courts and Department of Education regarding juvenile offenses after school and on weekends, to help the public schools deal with grudges and lingering hostilities that could explode into violence on school campuses.

"If the police say there was an incident Saturday night, come Monday morning you might have a fight on campus," Hamamoto said at a Board of Education committee meeting yesterday that turned into a wide-ranging information session on school harassment, bullying, violence and ways to stop it.

"I would like to share information about criminal activities that have gone on off campus to help me know how to keep the campus safer," she said. "Had I known my students had been involved in an incident over the weekend, I could have been better prepared.

"If an administrator hears of something, they'll pick up the phone and do something to try to prevent it."

As the Board of Education increases its attention to bullying, violence and harassment in the schools, it heard troubling news from its ombudsman, Beth McKeen, that students who have complaints often feel school leaders aren't paying attention.

"I hear mostly from the students that they're not being listened to," McKeen told the committee headed by Darwin Ching.

"And it's clear to me the kids know who the bullies are and who is getting bullied. But they're not OK with ratting out their friends."

McKeen later said complaints have risen dramatically in the two years she's been employed as a watchdog for the safety and fairness of the school system, going from around 250 last year to what she expects will hit 300 this year. About one-quarter of the complaints she hears involve bullying, and often it only reaches her door when it's a complaint "about what the school didn't do," she said. Several discouraged parents have taken their children out of school, she said.

McKeen said incidents of bullying "are not isolated and not unusual," and that there have been more complaints about teacher behavior than student behavior. She also noted that sports coaches often are guilty of inappropriate yelling, as well as touching that's too rough.

"I've heard people say, 'Well, that's cultural,' or 'That's the way things are,' " she says. "It's a 'give up and live with it' situation. That saddens me."

McKeen suggested that schools offer a system of anonymity to students who report bullying, and that schools also be held blameless when they candidly report incidents on their campuses. Without that incentive, neither will not be encouraged to report, she said.

Robin Nussbaum, a member of the Safe Schools Community Advisory Committee that expects to make a series of recommendations to stem bullying by June 2007, agreed. "We don't have the data because the system isn't working. We need to make it better so students feel safe to report," Nussbaum said.

The committee also heard from juvenile justice advocate Cat Brady about how the system called "restorative justice" has worked in other jurisdictions. Similar to the Hawaiian system of ho'oponopono, it brings together the perpetrator, victim, family members, and school officials to get to the root cause.

"It looks at the wrongdoing and tries to restore the harm that was done," said Brady. "It builds community, but doesn't brand the kid as a troublemaker. ... It's a circle process that works."

That type of approach worked several months ago when students from Campbell and Farrington high schools clashed off campus, brought their issues onto the campuses and then saw that escalate into a potential street brawl before arbitration brought the factions together.

But officials from the State Department of Human Services and Health Department pointed out that the work in fighting bullying behavior must begin much earlier — as young as elementary and middle school. And several people, including board member Maggie Cox, also made the point that no change will take hold unless it's systemic, in every school, with training for every student, teacher and administrator.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.