ARCATA -- Bullying, nutrition, special education and rural schools' needs are among the topics tackled at the third annual North Coast Education Summit.

The summit began Friday and continues through Sunday at Humboldt State University. Attendance was estimated at 1,200 or more -- twice that of the first summit in 2002. Most participants were from Humboldt, Del Norte, Mendocino, Trinity, Lake and Siskiyou counties, but more than 300 came from outside the area and several dozen from out-of-state.

Key themes were bullying, Latino cultures on the North Coast and special education. The bullying track began at a kickoff event Thursday evening at the Mill Creek Cinema in McKinleyville. Educators watched the new documentary "Let's Get Real," in which middle-school children talked about bullying, harassment and name-calling at their schools. A panel of Humboldt County educators discussed the topic after the film.

Steve Kelish, superintendent of Arcata School District and principal of Sunny Brae Middle School, said many children who are being bullied don't tell adults about it, instead keeping their frustration and humiliation inside until it builds up. He said educators need to figure out how to identify who these children are.

"A school is really doing a disservice if they've got an outstanding academic program but it's not safe," he said.

Three local nutritionists gave a presentation Friday on the link between nutrition, learning and achievement. They discussed studies that found that children who eat breakfast perform better on standardized tests, are absent from school less and have fewer behavioral problems than those who go without breakfast. The presentation also covered issues like poverty-related hunger, how to educate the community about nutrition and soda vending machines in school.

Stacie Bartram, an HSU student with cerebral palsy, led a workshop Friday morning on the challenges disabled students face in higher education.

Jessica Lauser, an HSU student who is legally blind, said that when professors stop mid-lecture to draw a diagram on the board, she's left wondering what they're drawing and waiting to hear the rest of the assignment, "like listening to the radio and having the station cut out."

Chris Magarian, a teacher at Junction Elementary School in the mountains of Siskiyou County, gave a presentation on the joys and challenges of teaching in isolated rural schools. She said her business and personal lives tend to blur since her students' parents are also her close friends.

She added that small schools run into trouble with state policies which simply don't apply to them. For example, the state required her school to document its policies for students learning English as a second language. Magarian said she's encountered three such students, from one family, in her 20 years at the school.

Betsy Rogers, National Teacher of the Year, is scheduled to give a keynote address today . Other topics up for discussion are helping students with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; teaching history through primary source documents; dealing with racially charged events in schools; Waldorf teaching methods in charter schools; and the use of maps, juggling and magic tricks in the classroom.

HSU's Department of Education and the Center for Educational Excellence, Collaboration and Inquiry hosted the event, with California Endowment sponsorship along with other organizations.