Kansas schools are about to get some help confronting bullying.

University of Kansas psychology professor Robert Harrington is creating a certificate program to help schools address the problem. The program will be available online for educators across the state.

Kansas is not among the 33 states with statewide policies on school bullying. Instead, districts adopt their own. Harrington analyzed about half of the Kansas policies.

Harrington found none included language on when parents should be notified of bullying. Also, very few involved training for teachers or parents on how to handle bullying.

The program will show teachers and schools methods to curb bullying, such as problem-solving conflict resolution, anger control, social skills training, relaxation and tolerance training. It also discourages suspending bullies, saying the traditional punishment doesn’t curb the problem.