Fights lead to closure of Busch Branch Library after school

WARREN — The Busch Branch of the Warren Public Library, located at 23333 Ryan Road, will remain closed after school hours until Feb. 28, 2025, per the Warren Library Commission.

The decision was made to close the library, beginning Nov. 22, from 2:15-4 p.m. weekdays because of fighting among local students who hang out inside and outside the library after the school day. Most of the students reportedly attend Fitzgerald High School, which is located across the street from the library at 23200 Ryan Road.

The matter came up during the hearing of the public at the Dec. 9 Fitzgerald Public Schools Board of Education meeting. Those who spoke want to find a solution to the ongoing issue.

Warren City Treasurer Lorie Barnwell, also a Warren Library Commission member, said it was a difficult decision to close the library one hour and 45 minutes after school. Commission members will revisit a decision about when to open it again after school at a later date.

“Starting a year and a half ago, students, mostly from the high school, would come in and many of them were not following the rules that we have in place. Fighting was happening in the library. Extremely lewd comments and behavior in front of children was happening,” Barnwell said. “I heard from parents over and over again, especially the last six months, I can’t bring my kids to the library. I’m afraid for my safety.”

Barnwell said she understands that many parents work and can’t pick up their children right away after school. Therefore, they head over to the library.

“They don’t have anywhere to go,” Barnwell said. “Idle time can lead kids into temptation and situations they probably shouldn’t be in. They’re planning fights during school and they’re executing them at the library. They feel nothing’s going to happen to (them) because if it happens on this side of the street, there’s going to be no consequences.”

During the meeting, Warren Public Library Director Oksana Urban asked the school board to address the issue.

“You are not doing enough to prevent the problems that exist at this time,” Urban said. “We want the library to be open to our students. We want them to come in and learn. The students who are there to study can’t because the chaos is all around them. It’s in front of our door. It’s loitering. It’s yelling profanities. It’s the disrespect these students have for the staff and anyone else who comes into the library.”

While at the podium, Deputy Commissioner Charles Rushton of the Warren Police Department said the district does not have a door-to-door policy in which educators can address student behavior to and from school instead of involving law enforcement. Rushton would like to see the school board adopt a policy “where the school could deal with a lot of these problems at the school level without getting the police involved.”

“In the past year, we’ve had 111 runs to the Busch Library concerning students’ behavior. We’re going to have to start making arrests of high school students and middle school students to deter this behavior that is happening at these places. We don’t want juveniles in the criminal justice system on simple things that school district could address,” Rushton said. “We have attempted to speak with the school several times on this issue. No one has responded to wanting to come and meet with us. We’re trying to come up with ideas to help the school district.”

 

An ongoing issue
School officials first learned about issues at the library during the last school year.

“Last year we were notified the library has some issues with some students’ behavior inside the library,” Fitzgerald Public Schools Superintendent Hollie Stange said. “We met with Miss Urban several times last year to help create and implement the current ID process for students using the library after school. That seemed to create a sense of safety inside the library.”

The process required students to sign in and present identification to enter the library. Educators sent letters home to inform parents of the procedure. Staff also was made aware.

“From what was shared with me, the current issue seems to be outside the library,” said Stange, who added she did not find out the library was cutting hours after school until the day it closed. She said she has been in touch with Mayor Lori Stone’s office on the matter.

Stange also indicated the students could be from other schools other than Fitzgerald. Discipline measures can only be executed when students are properly identified.

“We haven’t been able to directly identify who these students are,” she said.

While Fitzgerald does not have a door-to-door policy, the district has a student code of conduct in place that covers student rights and responsibilities, due process procedures, discipline, consequences and more. Depending on the situation, student discipline could include suspension or expulsion.

There are different variables to consider when it comes to student behavior after school. As one example, if a district employee saw students fighting 5 minutes after dismissal off school grounds, that employee has the authority to break up the fight.

“We would tell them to stop. We have a school resource officer who would be called with three or four security guards,” Stange said. “The parents would be called, and the school resource officer would file a ticket depending on whatever needed to happen. We would hold up our student code of conduct and discipline accordingly.”

However, if an incident occurs after hours, a different procedure is followed.

“If a fight happens at 4:30 p.m., my staff is no longer even in the building,” Stange said. “At that point, that child is now a citizen of the community. I don’t have jurisdiction to uphold the student code of conduct. When we dismiss students, they are their parent’s responsibility.”

Stange also pointed out the teachers have several after school activities going on, including sports, clubs and C2 Pipeline.

“The students who are making bad choices are not using our resources we are already providing,” Stange said.

Stange said she planned to meet with board members to further discuss the situation.

“We are definitely eager to solve the problem together with the city and Library Commission,” Stange said. “Because we’re in education, we very much care about a well-rounded child.”