By Robin Ruhstaller



No soap, broken hand dryers, wet toilet paper, and overflowed toilet bowls; it is not a surprise that many students avoid using the school restrooms. However, another problem is out there: the failure of the district to provide convenient pads or tampons to the female student body. Though many campus administrators have been pushing for supplies, the district has failed to provide.

“It’s our job to take care of the girls,” said Assistant Principal James Marrone, “and (menstrual protection products) are definitely a feminine need.”

Junior Alisha Coronado and freshman Christina Grames agree that a girl’s menstrual period can become horrifying and critical at the worst moment.

“It’s really bad when you get (your period) at school,” Grames said. “Then you have to walk around all bloody.”

However, Grames admits that she knows many students who use rolled up tissue paper as an emergency form of protection. But she questions the cleanliness of this method because of the unsanitary conditions of the bathrooms.

Coronado said that starting one’s period at school can be extremely embarrassing.

“You don’t want everyone to know your business,” Coronado said. “Everyone’s going to see (the blood).”

However, beginning next month, a solution to this lack of convenient tampon or pad dispensers for females is going to be put into action.

Senior Plant Supervisor Beryl Dearing has rounded up a few product dispensers to be installed in the girl’s locker room. Because the district doesn’t fund the maintenance of these machines, the dispensers will sell materials for a low price. All proceeds will go to the physical education department for the refilling of the dispensers.

Still, Gayle Asuncion, supervisor of health services, said that stocking the machines is “very expensive.”

However, Corene Lugo, accounts clerk of student activities is negotiating with various supply companies including Tampax, Playtex, and Kotex in attempt to find the cheapest deal.

“We have a lot of ladies that need (supplies),” Lugo said. “Demand is here.”

Marrone is also involved in the search for these products. He thinks that the district doesn’t provide pads of tampons because each school has a Healthy Start. However, he said that most girls don’t prefer to go there.

Judy Rauzi, coordinator of Healthy Start, thinks different. She says that the health center is used. She estimates at least 100 students a month visit E-2 because of menstrual reasons. But she also maintains that the health center is there for emergency situations only.

“It’s the girl’s responsibility to know when she is going to start (her period),” Rauzi said. “It’s a sticky situation.”

However, many find it inconvenient to have to rush to the health center for a pad – which is the only form or protection distributed by law because of the risk of toxic shock syndrome. Still, the district can not place the dispensers in the bathrooms because they have to be monitored to prevent vandalism.

“By the time you get all the way to the health center, you could have bled all over yourself,” Grames said. “A lot of girls don’t know exactly when they’re going to start (their periods). It’s not like, “Okay at 1:02 I’m going to start my period.’”

Lugo also expressed that the girls go to her when they don’t have time to make it to the health office and that her supplies run out fast. Physical education teachers Rosslyn Halekakis and Deborah Spector are also donating products out of their own expense.

“We’re just trying to do what needs to be done,” Marrone said.