It turns out that the library that was going to close during school hours due to rowdy teens is going to stay open.
Library Decides Not to Close to Thwart Rowdiness
What happened is exactly what I expected would. The community came together to discuss different after school options for the kids. I still stand by the library's decision to threaten to close, I think the outcome produced a wake up call to the community that librarians are not the babysitters of their children. Sometimes it does take a drastic decision to produce results, in this case the results ended up being suitable for everybody.
I do believe that libraries can cater to teenagers but I don't think they should do it at the expense of other patrons. I think teen programming is necessary but so is adult programming. I also think that ths responsibility shouldn't fall solely on a librarian's shoulders...teenagers need the support of an entire community.
I'm pleased to see that this one has a happy ending and I hope it works out for the librarians involved.
Yeah, just today a man asked me if it was okay to leave his child with us (the library) all day. Apparently he did not take into account snow days. I let him know his child had to be supervised and that he could NOT leave his child with us all day.
I'm glad he asked though. He could have just went ahead and did it like most parents do.