Exciting but safe fun

Lately, students at TeWinkle Middle School are finding reasons to stick around after the bell has rung. Maybe it has something to do with the foosball table or air hockey or the Rock Band video game.

That’s because what was once an old room for wood shop cluttered with storage boxes has become a new, city-run teen center on campus.

“We make sure the kids are enjoying themselves, we keep things under control, and we even teach them pool,” said Alex Pearce, one of the employees who staffs the center.

The center lets teens drop in and out whenever they want, but it also serves as a reward for a school-run program, Principal Kirk Bauermeister said. As part of the “homework club,” youths spend an hour doing school work, get a snack, and then get to spend 30 minutes in the facility.

Bauermeister has been pushing for the center for much of his year-and-a-half tenure at the school, fearful that kids didn’t have a good place to stay before working parents got off the job.

“We have a lot of latchkey kids here,” he said. “They used to just hang around in front until the 5 o’clock bus. I would hate to see something happen to someone. In here, their parents know they’re safe.”

It’s also a way to get kids more excited about school, Bauermeister said. After seeing reports last year that test scores and employee morale were rising, one statistic stood out, he said.

“Only a third of kids said they were excited to go to school,” he said. “Maybe this is a way to start addressing that.”

Joey Mittner, 14, huddled around the pool table with a handful of other youths, and he said he couldn’t be happier with the place.

“It’s cool,” he said. “I get to play pool and Guitar Hero. A lot of my friends are here.”

Asked where he used to go before the center opened, Mittner had a quick response: “Just home — boring.”

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at michael.alexander@latimes. com.