Published: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 1:07 AM CDT

The Yankton Community Library will screen a version of the documentary ‘Bully’ Thursday in hopes of raising awareness about bullying and the seriousness of the issue.

The screening will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the library on 515 Walnut. Yankton police officer and DARE officer Jeff Johnson and Lewis and Clark Behavioral Health services counselor Stephanie Lund will be available after screening to facilitate a discussion and answer questions.

“The movie is a 99-minute documentary about five students from different parts of the country who were bullied at school for various reasons,” said Kathy Jacobs, director of the Yankton Community Library. “Some of the reasons why kids were bullied in the film are because of their sexual orientation, looks or size. Two of the families that appear in the documentary have children who committed suicide because of the bullying that took place against them.”

One of the students followed in the documentary is from Sioux City. He was a middle school student who was bullied in the hallways, playground and on the school bus. The film features footage from the bus and how he was bullied on bus rides to and from school.

“The documentary is really about how bullying takes place. There are no good answers as to why, but the film shows the different settings in which it takes place,” Jacobs said. “It shows how parents weren’t always aware of the seriousness of everything going on. Sometimes parents would go to school boards and principals, and (discover) how the topic may not have been taken seriously.”

Jacobs said she hopes the film screening allows parents to become more aware of what their children may be going through. She hopes students that are being bullied will have the power to speak up and tell an adult, and she also hopes that students who bully others will see how it affects people and stop doing it.

“I have all kinds of goals for the screening,” Jacobs said. “The movie is appropriate for those in upper elementary grades on through adults. I think everyone that comes to watch the film can take something away from it.”

She hopes that the movie might influence communication opening up between parents and kids about what might be happening with children while they’re in school.

“Our job as a library is to help educate the community,” Jacobs said. “The subject of bullying might not be something everyone will be interested in. Some might have questions about the subject but won’t want to come in to a public viewing, so hearing about the movie might make them check it out on their own.”

In addition to the movie, the library will have the book, that goes along with the film available and will have resources for adults on how to deal with the situation if their child is a bully or being bullied.

“It’s a difficult subject to talk about, and I tend to get very passionate about it, but I just hope that people have the courage to come out to see the film,” Jacobs said. “People can come see the film out of curiosity, or if they feel like they want to learn more about the topic or do something about it.”

For more information, contact the library at 668-5276.

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal