FARGO - Not all school bullies push their weight around in hallways and on playgrounds. Some of them are using computers and cell phones to tease and torment other students.

Cyber bullying involves malicious e-mail or text messages or embarrassing cell phone photographs that are used to threaten or hurt others.

"It's the new wave of bullying," said Robin Kowalski, a Clemson professor who has studied the issue for the last year.

School officials here are worried enough about the subject to bring in experts to talk with students and parents. Shanterra McBride, who works with a national program sponsored by Unicel, a cellular phone company, spent Wednesday at Fargo's Discovery Junior High.

McBride told students to tell an adult if they become victims of electronic harassment.

"Your privacy is overrated when your safety is in jeopardy," McBride told a group of eighth-graders. She also had separate sessions with ninth-grade students and parents.

The concept of cyber bullying is not new to local and state officials.

Parents of about 350 public middle school students in Fargo kept their children home one day last spring after rumors of gun violence spread over electronic messages. Students in Devils Lake and Belfield were taken into custody after authorities discovered threatening notes or "hit lists."

The summer break may not have calmed the waters, said Lowell Wolff, spokesman for Fargo public schools. Junior high teachers and administrators found that some students increased their electronic exchanges, he said.

"We found some kids coming back to school and expressing animosity toward each other over things that built up over the summer," Wolff said.

The problem seems to be centered among middle school students and usually peaks about eighth grade, Kowalski said. "Maybe they find other venues" after that, she said.

Officials traced some of the rumors that caused last spring's scare in Fargo to blog sites, which are set up as personal diaries posted on the Internet. Linda Davis, the principal at Discovery Middle School, said language on the sites can be vulgar and hateful.

School officials still deal with old-fashioned school yard bullying, and it seems to be easier to resolve than cyber bullying, Davis said.

"There's still some element of humanity there where they may not get as carried away," she said.

McBride said computer users develop a "fake boldness" when they can hide behind anonymous screen names.

"You say things that you would be afraid to say to someone's face," she told students.

Technology can be a good thing when used in moderation, Kowalski said.

"It's probably not a good idea for a kid to have a computer in a room where parents can't see what's going on," she said.