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April 7, 2010

After-school unruliness.

Libraries put the word out to kids: Behave
By Andrea Alexander and Katie Sobko

THE RECORD (Hackensack N.J.)

HACKENSACK, N.J. - At some libraries today, those polite "Silence, Please" requests now come with the added warning "or else you're out of here."

They are cracking down on what library directors say happens everywhere now and then: bad behavior by bored children waiting after school to be picked up by parents.

The offenses in Pequannock, N.J., have ranged from mischief - turning over DVD covers so patrons can't see the titles - to vandalism. On a recent Friday, police were called because students were roughhousing outside. In February, a woman was hit with an errant snowball in a student fight. And in December, a library staffer's foot was stomped on in a dispute over a backpack.

In Mahwah, N.J., the problems have included graffiti left on walls and kid-on-kid confrontations.

Notably, however, librarians are blaming parents, not the children, as the primary culprits.

"Libraries don't act 'in loco parentis [in place of a parent],' " said Robert White, executive director of the Bergen County Cooperative Library System. "When you drop your kids off at school, the school is acting in place of the parents, so they are surrogate parents during school hours. When they come over to the library, the library doesn't suddenly become the person that takes care of the children until they are picked up. That is not the library's responsibility."

White said the problem is cyclical and not widespread in the Bergen County system's 75 member libraries right now. But a few libraries have hired off-duty police officers for after-school hours. And trouble has markedly flared in some areas.

Pequannock last year hired a monitor for after-school hours. Last week, it set a new policy on bad behavior and penalties, including calls to police and suspension. Now, it's considering spending $4,000 on outside cameras.

Meanwhile, the Mahwah library is enforcing a code of conduct forbidding abusive language or disruptive behavior. If trouble persists, staff may call parents, and police as a last resort.

The Mahwah library fills up afternoons with children from nearby Ramapo Ridge Middle School. Many join in programs or study, said Library director Delores Bostrom. But others are loud and disruptive. They write on walls. One librarian said troublesome students are asked to leave every day. She declined to give her name, saying that students have threatened her in the past.

In Pequannock, the problem is twofold. The neighboring Pequannock Valley Middle School has limited parking, so the library is a favored pickup spot for parents and children. After school, crowds of children wait in front of the library as cars parade into the lot. Library staff say the children sometimes block the entrance and interfere with patrons.

Parents say there are few other safe pickup spots on busy Newark Pompton Turnpike. Municipal Manager David Hollberg said the township has worked on the problem, including installing sidewalks behind the school to provide safe rendezvous. But parents note that the library parking lot is safe, too.

"Where else are we going to park?" asked Debbie Carbone as she waited recently for her daughters in the library lot. "It's easy and I don't have to worry about them walking on a busy street."

The other problem is children not immediately picked up. Library director Rose Garwood has noted fewer parents arranging after-school care and instead leaving children at the library. She thinks it's a result of bad economic times.

"They feel this is a free service, and they leave them in the library and it doesn't work," she said. "People shouldn't leave children in a public library or anywhere unsupervised. There is such a thing as 'stranger danger.' If you are not going to leave your children alone in the mall, then don't leave them alone in a public library."

Under Pequannock's policy, children younger than 11 can't be left unattended in the library. Staff may call police if bad behavior persists, and also can suspend offenders. In that case, a parent or guardian must meet with staff before the child is allowed to return.

With the coming of warm weather, trouble subsides as children head outdoors. But the middle school principal also recently wrote to parents to discourage using the library as a pickup spot - and to remind them the library isn't "a free baby-sitting service."

Schools superintendent William Trusheim said the district also gets involved if it identifies troublemakers, as it did when suspending students who threw snowballs in the library lot.

The middle school has resumed keeping its own library open until 4 p.m. And it has relaxed its cell phone policy so parents can alert children they're on the way.

Library staff note improvement since attention was called to the issue. But Garwood said the policy will be in place next school year; she just wishes the library didn't face the problem.

"It a very sad state of affairs when we have to pass policies of evicting people from the library," she said, "when we are in the business of trying to get people to come in here."

Posted by tumulty at April 7, 2010 6:40 AM

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