Free feminine hygiene items are being put in school bathrooms for girls across the state after New York mandated it.
Bathrooms will be stocked with tamponsand a student won't need to obtainpermission to grab one.
The feminine hygiene products will be available in all bathrooms that serve sixth- to 12th-graders.
"All products shall be provided at no charge to students," effective July 1, according to the law.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed for the unfunded mandate as part of the 2018 Women's Agenda for New York that seeks to empower women, close the gender gap in STEM, provide mentoring and ensure access to pads and tampons in public schools.
Startup costs from school budgets
Thestartup costs for having dispensers in bathrooms are thousands of dollars for local school districts.
The upkeep cost implications won't be known until the machines are being used by the students, said Gates Chili Superintendent Kimberle Ward.
Districts will need to find the money in their budgets this year to comply, Laural Heiden, a spokesperson for Greece Central School District, explained.Greece has spent $8,700 on the purchase of dispensers alone, Heiden said.
Webster Central School District spent about the same.Webster purchased 24 feminine hygiene product dispensers totaling about $8,800.
Webster's student bathrooms, locker rooms, the aquatic center and stadium bathrooms, will all have dispensers, according to Krista Grose, Webster's public relations coordinator.
An additional 10 dispensers will be ordered once the district evaluates usage levels of the 24 dispensers, Grose said.
The East Rochester Union Free School District has its 12 dispensers ready to go. The project cost about $3,700 in materialsand $280 in labor, said David Green, assistantsuperintendent for finance and operations.
The Honeoye Falls-Lima Central School District is similar to other local schoolsthat worked to get the machines and products installed before the first day of school, according to spokesperson Leah Shepard.Their process started in June and will cost the district about $3,000.
"The Hilton School District is providing feminine product dispensers in all girls’ bathrooms in the middle school and high school, unisex bathrooms, locker rooms, as well as girls bathrooms in the sixth-grade areas in all three elementary schools," according to GraceScism, Hilton's director of communications and community education.
Struggle related to supply cost
It's a good thing that the law addresses health and wellness, says Ward, as poverty levels increase. However, the fact that the mandate is unfunded is a concern.
According to multiple Monroe County schools, supplies were provided in the nurse's office before the mandate.
About 42 percent of children in New York live in low-income families and a monthly supply of feminine hygiene products can be expensive for struggling families.
"This important step will make New York state a leader in addressing this issue of inequality and stigma, ensuring that no girl's learning is hindered by lack of access to the products her biology demands," according to a statement from Cuomo.
"There is no shaming for women who can't afford or access. That's what we do in public education," Ward said.
Access and affordability of feminine hygieneproducts have been long discussed.In 2016 Cuomo took away the tampon tax in New York State.
Rep. Sean Maloney, D-Cold Spring, who is running for Attorney General, made headlines for writing a check of $37.16 after the Committee on House Administration said he could not use official funds to buy feminine hygiene products for his staff and visitors.
The community responded by sending hundreds of tampon donations to his office.
Affordability of feminine hygiene products is a concern even in the offices ofCongress.
"It sounds like a little thing but it's actually a big thing, for a lot of people, in a lot of situations. And the cost of these products is a big issue for so many people," Maloney said in a YouTube video.
MEFINNERTY@Gannett.com
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