Checking out library safety

Is the public library no longer a haven for children?

That’s the message the director of a charter school in South Los Angeles sent the parents of her 340 students last week, warning them that Hyde Park--Miriam Matthews Public Library, a few yards from the school campus, was not safe for their children.

“Many students have complained about being taunted, harassed and intimidated by some of the other students [from nearby schools] who frequent the library,” wrote Mikelle Willis, who also founded KIPP Academy of Opportunity, a charter school specializing in college preparation.

“Our students often return to school because they are scared to remain,” she wrote in the April 18 letter, adding, “The bottom line is that the library is not safe for our children.”

Willis said librarians were doing all they could to keep children under control, but “handling the level of disrespect and violence that some children bring to that establishment is beyond their expertise.”

More security is needed, she said, and she encouraged parents to write letters to Los Angeles Public Library officials expressing their concerns.

Willis, who said her students regularly report being verbally and physically abused at the library, said she finally decided to take action last week after a group of boys said they were physically attacked while working on a project after school. In her letter, she discouraged all students from going to the library without adult supervision.

She said she believes students from the charter academy are being targeted by children from other neighborhood schools because the charter students shoulder a heavy academic load and abide by a strict uniform dress code that makes them stand out.

“In our environment it’s OK to be a nerd and focus on your studies,” Willis said. “At the library they should be comfortable to concentrate on academics, but lately they have been ridiculed and teased.”

When the academy took over St. Anselm Elementary, a closed Catholic school near 70th Street and South Van Ness Avenue more than a year ago, the new library, a few doors down, seemed like an ideal place for students to spend time after school working on projects -- and many did. Public libraries have long been considered a haven for students bent on academic success.

But last week, two students reported that they were slapped and choked by children from nearby middle schools who boasted of gang affiliations.

The library, which is 2 years old, is packed most afternoons with teenagers jockeying for time on the 25 computers the branch has available for public use. The staff has been receiving additional training in security to handle the after-school crowds.

“The library has become a popular destination because students want to check out MySpace,” said Stephanie Sheldon, senior librarian at the Hyde Park branch. “We recognize we needed more security.”

But on the day of the alleged attacks, the facility was short on staff and security, she said. There’s always “a little bullying.”

Pat Major said her 14-year-old son was with the group of boys when one was hit by a teenage girl.

“She said she was from the Rollin’ 60s, and she said they were all punks,” Major said. “You raise your son not to fight and definitely not to hit women. What do you do? I can’t have him abused by anyone.”

Tyrone Petrie, whose son goes to the academy, said he grew up in a tough neighborhood, but the library was always considered off-limits when it came to gangs and troublemakers. He said he and other parents were trying to encourage their children to develop a desire to go to the library.

“To be turned away in this manner is unacceptable,” he said. “I don’t think these were hard-core gang members, but it doesn’t take too much to go to the next step.”

Alan-Michael Graves, a parent who learned about the incident when he went to pick up his 12-year-old son at the library, said he was outraged.

“My son goes to the library to work on his homework with a couple of students, and they wait for their parents to pick them up,” he said. “It has been a resource for him.”

In response to the complaints, library officials say that security is being beefed up at the Hyde Park branch, and that meetings are being organized with representatives of local schools -- including Horace Mann Middle School, 74th Street Elementary and KIPP Academy -- and neighborhood groups.

“We are going to assign a security officer there Monday through Friday while the library is open,” said David Aguirre, deputy chief in charge of library security, which is an arm of the city’s office of public safety. That agency has 48 officers for the city’s 71 library branches.

City Librarian Fontayne Holmes, who heads the Los Angeles Public Library and its branches, agreed that more could be done to reach out to schools and community groups to make the the libraries safer.

“The incident in Hyde Park is very serious,” she said. “We want children and teenagers to come to our libraries. There are times when young people do get rambunctious, but we try to guide them and help them.”

john.mitchell@latimes.com