Board tables decision on machines
SOUTH COVENTRY >> Should women’s sanitary products be available at no cost in school bathrooms?
The Owen J. Roberts School Board grappled with that question after a high school senior raised the topic at a recent meeting.
Owen J. Roberts High School senior Lilly Minor feels strongly about menstrual equity. Earlier this year, she helped write House Bill 1708, also dubbed Lilly’s Bill, which would require schools serving girls in grades six through 12 to provide menstrual products in bathrooms for free.
On Monday, Oct. 21, Minor, the daughter of school board member Karel Minor, stood before the board to complain that the two machines providing free sanitary products in the high school are always empty.
What’s more, she prodded the board to install machines with free products in all middle and high school girls’ bathrooms before the bill she helped write becomes law.
“Multiple districts in our state have already taken action to provide these things before it becomes law,” Ms. Minor told the board. “I would ask the board to fix this issue before you are legally mandated to fix it.”
Senior Lindsey Jennings also spoke in support of having free menstrual products in the bathrooms, calling it a medical issue, and arguing that “it’s one less thing for our female students to worry about.”
After the two students addressed the board, Mr. Minor made a motion that would require the district to provide tampons and sanitary pads “by or before the first day of classes of the 2020-21 school year” in all girls’ and all-gender bathrooms in the high school and middle school, as well as in bathrooms serving sixth grade students in the elementary school.
“And these dispensers shall be filled at all times,” Mr. Minor said.
He said sanitary products should be treated like soap, paper towels and toilet paper, which are always provided at no cost.
Board member Heather McCreary spoke in favor of the motion but pointed out that free menstrual products should be accompanied by education for the students.
“It doesn’t mean that just because we have them here you don’t come to school without your tampons,” McCreary said.
Board member Pamela Clouser Wolfe suggested that free sanitary product machines should be available in elementary school classrooms for females younger than sixth grade. Minor agreed to amend his motion to have the machines in all girls’ elementary school bathrooms.
However, board Vice President Matthew Fitzgerald, who presided over the meeting in the absence of President Lisa Huzzard, moved to table the motion. He stressed that he was sympathetic to the concerns raised by the two seniors who spoke, but felt more information was needed before a decision could be made.
“I’m not particularly well-educated on the topic to know what is the correct thing to do, and for what ages,” Fitzgerald said. “I haven’t heard from enough medical experts and educators.”
He suggested that the board’s legislative and policy committee, which is chaired by Mr. Minor, work to develop a policy for the board. McCreary objected. “Do we have a policy on toilet paper? We do not, so why do we need a policy on tampons?” she asked.
But Fitzgerald insisted that the board “go about this in a quick but appropriate manner.”
He further recommended that the district could work to ensure that existing machines offering free sanitary products should remain full.
Superintendent Susan Lloyd said that the administration had installed two free sanitary machines in the high school and middle school, but had run into problems.
“In the middle school, students began emptying them and throwing them around so it was a behavioral issue. In our high school, we fill them every morning and they are empty by noon,” Lloyd said.
She also noted that machines would need to be purchased for the elementary schools if the board requires the district to install them in all girls’ bathrooms.
The board voted 5-3 to table the motion, with the caveat that the legislative and policy committee will draft language for a new policy, and that the administration will re-double their efforts to keep existing free sanitary machines filled.
Board members voting in favor of tabling the motion included Fitzgerald, Wolfe, Douglas Hughes, Melissa Booth and Cathie Whitlock. Opposing it were McCreary, Mr. Minor, and Leslie Proffitt.