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Hello Steve and all --<br><br>
Attached is Hackley Library's Unattended Children Policy, FYI. It's
time for us to look at it again since it was last reviewed in 2007, but I
don't anticipate major changes. We may look at defining the age of
an accompanying adult.<br><br>
At the time this was first written, HPL was part of Muskegon Public
Schools, and I learned then through school channels that in the State of
Michigan children age 7 and up are presumed to be able walk unattended to
a neighborhood elementary school. As I remember it, that's one of
the reasons that there are buses for kindergarteners, but not necessarily
for elementary age students who live close to their school. This
legal concept may have changed.<br><br>
We are a city library and have many young visitors who are unattended by
adults ever. For some kids, the library is a safe place when home
and the streets are not, and some kids are locked out of their homes, so
our emphasis is on their behavior. The library may be the best and
safest place some kids can come to on their own, they may have made a
good choice to come here, but they have to behave appropriately.<br><br>
We have visitors from a number of different school districts, which is
why we don't necessarily get too excited about teens in the library
during the school day. Different high schools are closed for lots
of different reasons and the teens could well be legitimatly off for the
day for their district. We leave 'em be unless their behavior
causes us to intervene. We definitely call the school and check out
the situation for younger kids who visit the library without an adult
during the school day; there can be a social work reason why they chose
to come here instead of school or home.<br><br>
Hope this is helpful.<br><br>
Marty Ferriby, Director<br>
Hackley Public Library<br>
316 W. Webster Ave.<br>
Muskegon, MI 49440<br>
231-722-7276<br><br>
<br><br>
We are exploring our existing policy concerning unattended children, and
we want to get a feel for how other libraries handle this issue. Please
let us know what your policies are regarding children coming into your
library. We’re concerned about age ranges and when you require adult
supervision.<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
<br>
Steven F. Smith<br>
<b>Administrative Librarian<br>
Dearborn Public Library<br>
16301 Michigan Ave.<br>
Dearborn, MI 48124<br>
(313) 943-2812<br>
ssmith@ci.dearborn.mi.us<br>
</b> <br>
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