Fights and altercations involving young people also have taken place inside and outside of the Main Library downtown, which has seen a large increase in police calls for service this year, primarily due to proactive patrols.
In September, a huge brawl at the Southeast Branch involving teenagers resulted in the library closing daily. Currently, the library is closed between 2:30 and 4 p.m. weekdays. Belmont High School dismisses around 3 p.m.
Around 70 people attended Tuesday’s meeting at the Southeast branch, which was the third in a series of conversations between library staff and community members. About 15 of the people who came were high school students from various Dayton Public Schools.
Library staff asked community members to brainstorm solutions, not just possible causes of problems with teenagers at the local branch. Some of the suggestions included that there aren’t enough things for teens to do after school.
But community members also said there could be opportunities for the library to work with students, offering them jobs or volunteer positions.
Some of the teens who attended asked for more calming ways to hang out at the library, like a room where relaxing music or a movie is played.
Donnie Stanton, a senior at Belmont High School, said he thought the conversation was productive. He said he would love to see the library create a more welcoming environment for teenagers.
“Do something that’s intriguing to us, rather than just arts and crafts,” Stanton said.
Jessica Hite, a Belmont parent of a 12-year-old, said the conversation identifying what was going on was productive before coming to any hard solutions.
But she also suggested it would be helpful to better engage the teenagers who attended.
Dayton Mayor Jeff Mims said he talked to teens in a small group about ways to give teens interpersonal skills.
“It wouldn’t matter if they had 200 or 300 kids here in the library, if each of them had the skill and the ability to treat others with respect and dignity,” he said.
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