Teens Hanging out at the Elem Schools at Night

[lilly]

In case people are missing it, the night time teen hang-out situation at the elem schools is spinning out of control. The district has taken steps and will continue to address the situation. The supers, BOE and patch are all covering it following an(other) incident at Beech last weekend involving trespassing, underage drinking and vandalism.

So folks, you need to have control of your teens. Parents may not be able to enable their kids anymore if they are caught breaking the laws.

This public service announcement brought to you by Lilly, the wonderdog. Seriously, it is disturbing to see 75+ teens hanging at Beech at night with cars on the lawns. That many parents don't know where their kids are? C'mon...

[wantaghcitizen]

it is obvious that our kids need a place to hang out and it is also obvious you would rather they hang out somewhere other then a school yard. unless you live adjoining one of our schools i don't know why it is so wrong. if it is the vandalism or risk of injury from the cars i agree 100%. we all need to stop our kids from breaking the law. after we solve this, then we need a place that they can go and i don't see why it can't be the school yard.

[lilly]

I know 3 people who live adjoining to the schools. 2 of them hate the kids hanging out at night. The 3rd doesn't mind so much but not the drugs and has intervened with the kids directly (didn't even go there with this person on how). I'm not sure the opinion of adjoining neighbors matter bc...

I would imagine breaking the law includes loitering and trespassing at the schools at night. So, it's not an option.

I don't understand why a parent would set the example of saying 'well, it is against the law, but it's ok for you, my children' in deed. That's messed up.

Why aren't parents hosting these kids? Basement, food, pizza. Warmer weather, pool parties or backyard hang-outs. Give'm privacy but know what is going on lest any social host laws are broken. Drive them to the movies. Anything is more productive than drinking and drugs in an unsupervised environment where they're not supposed to be.

[Chris_Wendt]

We already have places for kids to hang out. One of them is the High School, when there is Teen Center. However, that is only once in a while, and even then it is not widely attended. There are youth groups and youth activities at some Wantagh congregations, but those are even less popular.

We have allowed kids to use our back yard and pool, but that presents a liability exposure and the need for more supervision than kids want to accept in exchange for the privilege.

When my wife and I were in our teens, the beach and the beach pools were open until 10 PM. That has long since been stopped because of liability and funding issues.

There are other non-school hang-outs, namely the woods around any of our lakes. There, interested parents can take a walk on a Sunday afternoon and view the empty beer cans, the cold ashes of the 'camp fires', and other artifacts of uninhibited adolescent behavior.

An un-patrolled, unlocked, unsupervised school yard is not much different than the deep woods. Many of the same artifacts can be found the morning after. But worse, at the school yards, kids sometimes climb up on the roof, break into the building, and either do damage, steal equipment, or some of each.

If a kid gets hurt at the school yard, the school district gets sued. If a kid gets hurt in the woods, maybe the raccoons get sued?

However, we have more than two thousand teens in Wantagh, and it cannot be denied that their energy and curiosity need healthy, safe, lawful outlets. Our schools provide for this during the school day, and most evenings and weekend days when activities are in progress. However, there are far more kids than can be absorbed into after school activities or CYO, Little League, PAL or other youth sports programs which are available on any given day or evening.

But none of these school or sports programs is intended to keep kids occupied or amused between 9PM and 3AM. At some point two other entities must step up and take full responsibility:

• Parents
• the youths, themselves.

If not, then there are two other forces that may step in and take a hand:

• Fate
• Law Enforcement

Either of those will be followed closely by a knock on the door which you will never forget.

Chris Wendt

[lilly]

Apparently, if a house/basement "party", both the homeowner and parents of kids attending the party need to be aware of whether parents are home or not and what is going on.

wantagh.patch.com/articles/crime-report-underage-house-party-busted-restaurant-burglaries

A 19 yo was issued an appearance ticket for violating social host laws at a Mandalay house party with lots of underage teens. Is that a misdemeanor or a felony? Kathleen Rice has a major beef with alcohol-related crimes.

[lilly]

Over the weekend, graffiti appeared on the steeple clock at Wantagh El. Also, the new mural by the colonnade in the MS/HS complex was defaced.

With the aid of the security cameras, yesterday 4 WHS'ers were apprehended for it. If anything, this sends a message to our kids, enough is enough and behave.

[lynch]

I wonder why the high school kids are no longer allowed to leave the class room to go to the bathroom ?I guess they are getting a little more then a message. I heard there was graffiti in the bathroom of the h.s.

[bnjasper]

I see the H/S incident reached Newsday today. A plus for the BOE for sticking to there word that there were going to be consequences if vandalism continued. Now the parents must stand up and take on their responsibilities.