Over the years, the Twisted Oak Coffee House in Prescott has made efforts to provide a public space for middle schoolers during the afternoon. In early November they shared via social media that, “The middle school grades will no longer be welcomed upstairs after school, we’ve had too many incidents of them trashing the place, throwing things around, and being disrespectful to those around them. It’s sad, when we added the upstairs we had that age in mind, wanting to give the kids of Prescott a safe fun place to hang out, but time and again the chances to take advantage of it have been wasted”. We hear more about this issue from a daytime manager:
Staff is unable to “keep an eye” on the teenagers while downstairs running the business. It appears that to prevent issues supervision is necessary. This age group can benefit from independence but may also still need support and guidance. Parents, older siblings and the like are welcome to offer volunteer supervision of the upstairs so that their teens can still enjoy the space.
