“The safety and well-being of our staff and patrons is our utmost priority, and we will take all possible steps to help the people who work at and visit our libraries feel safe and secure,” said Heather McClure, director of safety and protective services with the Dayton Metro Library.
Dayton Public Schools Superintendent David Lawrence said the school district is going to do its part to try to prevent future problems with its students.
“I think it’s something we can minimize drastically, if we continue to try to chip away at it,” he said.
The Southeast Branch library is just the latest place to have trouble with young people fighting or being unruly. Last month, police also responded after juveniles got into fights outside of the Main Library in downtown Dayton and near the Greater Dayton RTA bus hub.
Major fight
Lawrence, DPS superintendent, said an investigation is ongoing into an incident that happened at about 4:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, at the Southeast Branch. Library officials declined to provide details about the incident saying it is an open police investigation.
Lawrence said video footage and other evidence identified about four Belmont High School students who were “perpetrators” in a large fight, which he described as a “melee.”
The Southeast Branch, located at 21 Watervliet Ave., is next door to Belmont High School, which has about 1,300 students in grades 7 to 12.
The fight took place about 90 minutes after Belmont High School dismissed for the day.
Dayton Public Schools school resource officers monitor the Southeast Branch library after school lets out.
After this fight, Lawrence said the school district proposes to increase its security presence at the library and extend the hours that officers monitor the facility.
He said the district may double the number of school resource officers at the library from two to four.
The district has about 50 full-time school resource officers, he said, and spends about $37,000 per month on overtime costs for security staff to patrol spaces where DPS students congregate.
Lawrence said Belmont school staff also will try to get students to board their buses more quickly so they are not just hanging around.
Also, Lawrence said the school has developed a list of students who have been having issues at the library, and school staff will meet with their parents to discuss what’s been going on.
The school district has a discipline code that also applies to incidents that occur off school property.
Lawrence said the district is taking “corrective action” against the students involved in the fight, but he noted they will receive due process.
Library action
McClure, director of safety and protective services, said libraries see an uptick in fights when school is in session. Foot traffic falls during the summer, when students are on recess.
Teenage students from time to time cause issues at branches located near schools, like those in Vandalia, Brookville, New Lebanon, Miamisburg, Northmont and West Carrollton, McClure said.
But they do not see the same level of issues as the main downtown library and the Southeast branch, she said.
“Our Safety and Protective Services team and the branch staff do a great job to stop incidents as quietly and quickly as possible,” she said. “Staff get to know the students by name, which makes it easier to address the issues.”
The Dayton Metro Library said it trespasses people of all ages when they fight or engage in criminal activities, like drugs, destruction of property and sexual acts.
Since 2020, the Dayton library system has trespassed 364 people, and these patrons are not allowed to visit any of the 17 branches for a year.
Dayton Metro Library also has a code of conduct that visitors must follow. People receive two warnings for non-criminal but disruptive, dangerous or problematic behaviors before they are asked to leave the facilities.
If problem behaviors persist, visitors are barred from coming back for longer periods of time.
McClure said hopefully parents, guardians, loved ones and groups that serve the youth will help the Dayton Metro Library ensure its facilities are safe havens for every one for visit.
“We can’t do this alone,” she said. “We need community organizations, city officials Dayton Public Schools, Dayton police, families and the students themselves to join us in these efforts.”
Dayton police Major Jason Hall said the police department has stationed officers in visible locations near the southeast and downtown libraries to be a deterrent. He also said police are doing proactive patrols.
Youth problems
Large fights involving young people occasionally take place across the region.
In mid-September, a couple of teens were arrested after there were a series of fights outside of the downtown Main Library and the Greater Dayton RTA’s transit center. The Main Branch closed early for safety reasons, and police said they had to clear crowds that gathered outside the library and bus hub.
There have been other brawls on the street near the RTA hub and outside the downtown library.
Fights between juveniles have erupted at festivals, concerts, entertainment venues and outside of high school sporting events.
Kings Island, the theme park in Mason, implemented a new policy last year that requires all guests 15 or younger to be accompanied by a chaperone who is at least 21 years old to be admitted to or remain in the park after 2 or 4 p.m. That policy was put into place after juvenile fights and other problems young people caused at the park.
Greater Dayton RTA CEO Bob Ruzinsky in early 2023 said an area near the downtown bus hub on South Jefferson Street had become a “hot mess” because of disruptive, nuisance activities that were going on. Some students and young people were involved in these activities.
New “hostile” landscaping has been installed since then that tries to discourage loitering, and Dayton police, school resource officers and RTA security staff have patrolled the area more aggressively.
DPS has four school resource officers at the downtown bus hub in the morning and afternoon to try to make sure things go smoothly, school officials said. School resource officers also are on hand at the Main Library from about 3 to 4:30 p.m.
Disappointing
Dayton Mayor Jeffrey Mims Jr. said it’s very disappointing but not all that surprising that some young people are getting into fights and trouble.
He said that’s because too many youth do not have conflict resolution skills. He said the city, the schools and other partners need to teach young people how to deal with conflict in a healthy way so that things do not spiral out of control into violence.
Mims said he believes safety issues at the library can be addressed, just like how local partners worked together to make the area by the bus hub safer and less of a problem.
Mims also noted that the city plans to invest in a violence interruption program that will try to change behaviors and attitudes about violent acts. This year has been a deadly one for young people in the city.
Superintendent Lawrence said he thinks juvenile fights are a symptom of deeper societal problems, including anger, division and hopelessness.
He said typically students who get into fights have bad grades and poor attendance. He said getting these young people involved in extracurricular activities and getting them to feel good about their future prospects would help keep them out of trouble.
Willow Thomas, 23, who lives about a minute or two walk from the Southeast Branch, says she visits the facility about once a week and she’s never witnessed any issues with the many students who patronize the branch.
Thomas, however, said any place where teens gather in large numbers is bound to have something happen eventually because young people sometimes get upset, frustrated or angry.
Thomas said the reduced hours will be a little inconvenient, mainly for the kids who swing by there after school.
“Unfortunately, it’s like when classes get punished as a whole and everybody is losing out because of the behaviors of two or three kids,” she said.
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