William F. James Boys Ranch welcomes idea for library
Morgan Hill – A plan for establishing a library to benefit juvenile inmates at William F. James Boys Ranch rekindled last month when probation manager Mike Simms invited local library personnel and community leaders to tour an old reading room at the detention center that could be used for the project.
If all goes well, the new library could open in September, Simms said.
Filled with donated books and Internet-linked computers, the new library would join a host of a new education and counseling programs arriving at James Boys Ranch this summer as part of a package called the “Enhanced Ranch Program.”
“The idea (for creating a library) has been around for a while,” said Simms, who has worked with local youth offenders for more than a decade. “It was just a matter of finding the space to do it.”
The Santa Clara County Probation Department is instituting the Enhanced Ranch Program following public outcry over a high number of escapes from the detention center in fall 2004. The program focuses on providing services to youth in small work group settings, as recommended by national juvenile justice experts. And with a re-emphasis on education on the way, Simms said, the timing for the library couldn’t be better.
James Boys Ranch holds 51 “medium-risk” offenders between the ages of 15 and 18, serving sentences of six to eight months.
By law, the Santa Clara County Office of Education provides educational services for the incarcerated youth, but there has never been a library at the detention center for study and quiet reflection.
“I think it would be extremely beneficial for the young men there,” said Georgette Brooker, Community Schools principal for Santa Clara County Office of Education. “I think it’s wonderful that the community would be willing to get behind them in that regard. It’s an excellent resource for them, and a positive way for them to use their leisure time.”
The Community Schools division offers educational programs for youth, grades 7 through 12, who are status-offenders, truant or beyond parental control.
There are three teachers who work at James Boys Ranch, Brooker said, and also three county employees from the Santa Clara County Regional Occupational Program who teach vocational programs.
The Morgan Hill Library, Culture and Arts Commission is working to create a plan to get the library furnished, funded and up and running, said commission chairman Einar Anderson.
“We need to find out the county’s regulations,” Anderson said, alluding to who would be allowed to install new tables, chairs, shelving and books at the new library.
Simms said the county is paying to renovate other parts of James Boys Ranch, and could have some left over dollars for the new library.
Russ Danielson, president of Upward Bound Youth, a countywide volunteer organization that works to support minors in trouble with the law, said the library would serve both academic and recreational purposes, promoting the idea that reading is fun.
“We’re trying to level the playing field, so their time is of use to them,” said Danielson, who works in Morgan Hill.
Simms said the library would be a quiet spot to do homework and access job-hunting Web sites.
“Sometimes, just being around all the kids all day long, they don’t get a chance to sit down and be alone with their thoughts,” he said.
The small library would occupy a room adjoined to the ranch’s recreation hall, currently used as a reading room.
County librarians have expressed interest in donating their time to creating methods of keeping track of the books going into the new library, Simms said.
Tony Burchyns covers Morgan Hill for The Times. Reach him at (408) 770-4106 ext. 201 or tb*******@*************es.com.
