Fireworks, destruction and junk. Juvies have been causing nuisance in Westerbork for ages. At the two primary schools and childcare in multifunctional center De Groene Borg, they are done with it.
The site of De Groene Borg, sandwiched between the Groeneweg and the Homat, appears to be a favorite hanging place of the youth. “They buy sweets at the local supermarket, eat it at our school and then leave the packaging. That happens especially during this period, in which it is light in the evening,” Valentine de Ruyter knows. She is director of De Lindelaar, one of the primary schools in the Groene Borg.
“The destruction is much worse. This includes cycling, bushes and the building itself. The facade has suffered damage and I think the repair in the tens of thousands of euros is running,” says De Ruyter. “We understand that a schoolyard has an attraction and that it is nice to get together there. But of course you stay away from someone else’s things.”
According to the school director, the nuisance has been a problem for years. “Perhaps it is because there is not really a nice place where the young people can go. We have many sports clubs in the neighborhood and all kinds of activities are organized there. But perhaps young people have started to behave differently and it is not challenging enough.”
In the meantime, the school has hung cameras to visualize future destruction. “And we talk to young people that they have to behave. For example, that you clean up your mess when you leave again. Throw it in the trash. Anyway, that is apparently difficult.”
The school board has reported the police. “I am confident that everything is being done to stop this. We have to do it together, we are all society.”