Last year, the state of California passed a new Ed Code law that went into effect this school year requiring Title I (low income) public schools to provide feminine hygiene products in at least 50% of the restrooms on campus. Research has shown that girls who come from low-income homes are likely to miss school several days each month due to their family's inability to afford these products. The state will reimburse schools for these products. While this is not something I have experience with since I teach the little kids, I have several colleagues in the upper grades who purchase these products, along with other hygiene products like deodorant to help out their students who need them. So while this requirement may seem trivial, there certainly is a need for it, hoping to keep kids in school.
As with most things in public education, passing the law seems like the easy part. Actually implementing the plan isn't always easy. Our facilities department was tasked with putting the storage containers with the product into the restrooms. Facilities is known for showing up to work on a project and leaving before anyone ever sees them, but the project isn't always executed correctly. We have three multi-stall girls' restrooms on campus. There is one in the main building, one in the breezeway between the main building and the playground, and one in the new building. Facilities put those containers in the main building and the breezeway restrooms. The only problem is the upper grade students don't use the restroom in the main building. The main building houses kindergarten and first grade classes only, and therefore the restroom in there is for those kids. The new building houses all the 3rd-6th grade classes, and that building's restroom didn't get any containers. And since the teachers are always the last to know about anything, the only reason we were aware of the new products was because the first graders found them. Upon the daily cleaning by the custodian, it would seem the little girls thought of them as good wall decor items as he found them stuck all over the walls. A work colleague of mine recounted when a couple of his first grade girls came back from a restroom trip with them stuck to their hands and clothes, proudly announcing to the class that there were "stickers in there!". Their innocence is so cute! Imagine going through your life thinking they are stickers and then finding out what they are really for.
Anyhow, since then, the product has been removed from the main building's restroom and put into the new building and a quick information meeting between the district nurse and the upper grade girls has been scheduled. Both good plans, but thankfully they were put in the wrong place to start or we never would have been able to laugh about the 'stickers".
What get to me is that the guy and gals of the maintenance crews aren't stupid. They are there on the ground. And since they are presumably adult it can be assumed some contact with periods, knowing as a result little kids don't have them.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find far more worrying is that families haven't got the wherewithal to spent on them for their girls. Indeed I'm far from certain that's the issue. It could be that there is/are cultural questions of a girl beginning her life as a woman, or just plain worry that they start while at school and might need a bit of guidance on the cycle, and not just the bleeding part of it. It could also be cramps. For it seems some races have harder periods than others. And how the hell I know this I don't for the life of me know. But there you go. It seems Asian women have less, or did. Easier births too.
We have a couple of facilities guys that are GREAT! The rest though, I wouldn't call them stupid, but uninterested, lacking foresight, or even an understanding of what we do at school. So it doesn't surprise me about the mix up. :) Our school site day custodian is wonderful though and works his butt off for us. I'm talking about the district people who go from school to school. There isn't really an invested interest, ya know.
DeleteIt frustrates me to hear this and countless other examples of schools having to do things that should fall squarely in the realm of being a good parents. At the school where I am on the board, there is one kid this year that we have to regularly launder his clothes while as school, send him home with extra hygiene and food products, clip his nails, etc. And I am on the board of a PRIVATE school with a TUITION fee above and beyond what they pay in state tax money for the public school. When they can afford tuition but not hygiene or food, I can't come to any conclusion than they must be horrible at parenting.
ReplyDeleteWhile I completely agree with you on the parenting, or lack there of, I often have to get over that because my job isn't about the parents, it's about the kids. I can't fix the parents but maybe I can instill things in the kids that make them better prepared for life. In doing that, they need to be at school, they need to be full, they need to feel safe, etc., so I'm ok if my tax dollars go to this or free/reduced lunch, etc. We could ask the question, "Why do they have kids if they can't/won't take care of them?" (and I do a lot). But that doesn't change the fact that there are kids that we need to educate. I'm ok with it if it's needed. What drives me nuts though is that there are certainly people who take advantage of those things that are available so they don't have to pay for it themselves. But personally, I feel that is a problem with the system. At the first school I was at, we had a family who had 4 kids and received free and reduced lunch while at the same time the mom stayed at home with the kids and drove a new Cadillac SUV. This was not a "minority" family. And that's because they wrote a bogus amount on the free/reduced lunch forms and it was approved. NO ONE bothered to check it, so their 4 kids got lunch for free. If someone truly needs help, I have empathy for that, and it doesn't bother me. I don't think the idea behind that is broken, but the system that let's others take advantage like this is.
DeleteStickers! That's really cute. :D I seem to remember there use to be some funny photos floating around the internet of toddlers all "decked out" in them after discovering them in their moms' bathrooms.
ReplyDeleteI think I've seen those. Very funny. "There are stickers in there!" makes me chuckle every time I think of it. Outta the mouths of babes, right? :)
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