Somerville’s mayor has been buffeted by criticism from parents and elected officials since the city last month shuttered its Central Library during after-school hours following disruptions from rowdy teens.
Now, Mayor Katjana Ballantyne says the city plans to restore normal hours at the public library next to the high school beginning next week — but this time, with private security keeping watch.
Late Tuesday, Ballantyne said the city has identified a private security contractor to help enforce the library’s policies on behavior.
“I know that the temporary hours that were modified at the Central Library have certainly been disruptive to the community, and I want to thank everyone in the community for their patience and understanding,” Ballantyne said in an interview.
Nearly everyone in Somerville, it seemed, learned just the day before this school year began that the library’s central branch would shut its doors to both students and the public for hours each day immediately after classes ended at Somerville High School.
The move came after the city and librarians hit an impasse over concerns about safety in and outside the building, following a year in which staff said they were overwhelmed by disruptions, even violence, involving teenagers who poured there after the high school’s closing bell.
Controversy erupted, as parents fumed over the abrupt closure, and officials in the City Council and School Committee lamented that conditions had gotten so out of hand — and that a solution had not been reached by the time children returned to school.
Pressed repeatedly in the interview, Ballantyne would not say when, exactly, she first became aware that conflict at the library might require such a drastic step. But she defended the decision to modify the library’s hours, keeping students out, which she said she reached in tandem with library personnel.
“We had an unsafe situation reoccurring for our patrons and our staff and local youth, and we needed to first break the cycle,” Ballantyne said. “I understand the frustration and anger about this. Closing the Central Library was not a decision that I took lightly.”
In the weeks since, the city installed security cameras both inside and outside the library, which have been operational since late last week, and which officials hope will be a deterrent. She said the city has also identified students involved in incidents at the library and has begun connecting them with “wraparound services” aimed at addressing their needs.
At the same time, Ballantyne said the city is close to hiring a social worker who would split time between the city’s three libraries, and whose job would include responding to the needs of at-risk adults and children.
Meanwhile, she said, an effort to expand after-school options for students has continued and a new space away from the library for teens to gather with adult supervision “will be announced shortly.”
Ballantyne also noted that during the modified hours, students could still access both Somerville’s east and west branches, which remained open, as did the library inside the high school.
Still, students bemoaned the loss of a nearby refuge in the hours after school. A group of them have staged weekly protests outside city hall, waving signs that appealed to Ballantyne directly, reading: “Help the library staff” and “Don’t hide, Ballantyne.”
The plan to use private security will spare the city from turning to Somerville police to keep peace at the library when students arrive there. Ballantyne said she had been reluctant to have an armed officer on patrol, fearing the impact on students — a view she said had been reinforced by city councilors and School Committee members.
“Having police present at all times in the libraries is not a direction we wanted to go in,” Ballantyne said. “We’re not looking to criminalize anybody for misbehaving. There are steps in between, and staff who are skilled, and individuals and firms who are skilled, in de-escalation and peaceful redirection.”
Still, others had been pressuring the city to tap local police, at least temporarily.
Among them was city Councilor Matthew McLaughlin, who said that while police provide an imperfect solution to the problem, an on-site presence from officers should have been considered before shuttering a library to children.
“It’s not like I want cops and only cops dealing with this. I want someone to deal with this immediately,” McLaughlin said before the mayor announced the city had identified a private security vendor. “Closing the library is damaging kids way worse than any police presence would.”
The private security proposal has been met with cautious support from library personnel. At a public safety hearing Monday night, library director Cathy Piantigini said the plan is one staff “can move forward with,” so long as a private contractor is able to meet the library’s specific needs.
“I’m going to be hopeful that we are going to find a security guard that will be the unicorn that we need, somebody that will be able to engage patrons and help enforce our rules of conduct and not [escalate] a situation,” Piantigini said Monday.
Ballantyne did not name the contractor the city selected for the job, and noted that the city had not yet signed a deal with the firm. But she said that as of Tuesday the city was confident the firm could meet the parameters it had set for such a vendor, including that its personnel be trained in de-escalation techniques and that they have experience working with youths in public places.
Asked if she regretted the way her administration had handled the conflict at the library, considering the intense backlash to the closure and the fact that it was announced just hours before school began, Ballantyne said she stood by the decision given the stakes at hand.
“If anybody had been hurt, I think that would have been worse,” she said.
Spencer Buell can be reached at spencer.buell@globe.com. Follow him @SpencerBuell.