Ass't superintendent addresses school safety after hours

At the June 29 South Merrick Community Civic Association meeting, Merrick School District Assistant Superintendent for Business and Technology Dr. Christine Grucci discussed a pesky problem plaguing schools after hours — teenagers.

“We really don’t have any vandalism in the school to speak of; what we’re more concerned about is the safety of the students,” Grucci said, referring to the growing problem of teens hanging out on the rooftops of Levy-Lakeside, Chatterton and Birch elementary schools, and the fear that this is a dangerous place for them to hang out.

But while Grucci expressed safety concerns for teens, residents expressed concern for the welfare of their elementary school-aged children.

Levy-Lakeside parent Calvin Gibson said his son severely injured his hand a few years ago when he slid down the playground slide into a shard of glass. The injury resulted in stitches and a consultation with a hand surgeon to consider repair of a severed tendon.

“I'm concerned for my kids,” Gibson said. “I have other kids that go to this school, and I want them to be safe.”

Fellow parent Aimee Rapaport said she went around to schoolyards and took photos of broken glass, drug paraphernalia and other unsafe items after she heard teens smashing bottles one night. Other parents reported finding beer cans and assorted garbage.

“Kids are taught to clean up messes,” Rapaport said, concerned that children might get their hands on something dangerous.

Grucci said that school custodians keep watch on the school during regular work hours and from 6 to 11 p.m. on weekends. Usually, she said, the teens disperse when called on to do so. When a situation is too much for custodians to handle, they call in police. Auxiliary police have also increased patrols around Merrick schools at the civic association's request.

But even police only provide a partial remedy. “We’re like professional cattle herders,” 7th Precinct Problem Oriented Police Officer Garret Fujarski said, explaining that teens under the age of 16 can’t be issued summonses and can only be only be moved from one place to another.

Residents discussed a host of solutions, ranging from building a recreation center, adding cameras to schoolyards and changing policies that leave gates to schoolyard entrances open at night.

Grucci said the issue will be revisited at the Aug. 10 Board of Education meeting.

Comments about this story? SZeidler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.