Wheatley School in CNN bullying series

High school students and administrators at The Wheatley School in Old Westbury will be featured on a CNN series on bullying starting Sunday night. The weeklong series will be led by television journalist Anderson Cooper.

The school's 780 students participated in a study last spring that required them to fill out extensive questionnaires on bullying.

The study was conducted by Robert Faris, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, Davis, who has done extensive research on bullying in schools. Its findings will be introduced at a town hall meeting at Rutgers University in New Jersey, and CNN will broadcast the event at 8 Sunday night.

Additional segments on the research at The Wheatley School will air on "Anderson Cooper 360°" Monday and Tuesday, also at 8 p.m., school officials said.

For the remainder of the week, the program will continue to focus on bullying, with one segment highlighting a school district in Minnesota that banned teachers from talking about homosexuality.

Sean C. Feeney, principal of The Wheatley School, said the study's results were illuminating, although he said he knows that bullying exists at every school.

While he said he knew the exposure would shine a spotlight on Wheatley, Feeney added that "we are not believers in burying our heads in the sand."

Above: Spanish III teacher Pilar Principe-Franco instructs a class at The Wheatley School earlier this year.