If you walk into a women’s bathroom at Alexandria City High School’s King Street Campus, you will likely be greeted by the sight of an empty menstrual products dispenser.
The non-uniform availability of pads and tampons to students at ACHS has been a significant issue for the past few years.
Currently, each of the two main campuses have different ways that products are distributed. At King Street, menstrual products are provided to students in the academy offices and the main office. At the Minnie Howard Campus, menstrual products are offered in the gender-specific women’s restrooms, as well as in the academy offices.
All women’s bathrooms at both the King Street and Minnie Howard campuses are equipped with dispensers for pads and tampons. Gender-neutral bathrooms at Minnie Howard also have them.
The dispensers were installed at the King Street Campus about four or five years ago, prior to the construction of the new Minnie Howard Campus. These dispensers were included in the design of the Minnie Howard Campus.
However, the dispensers in the King Street women’s restrooms and the Minnie Howard gender-neutral restrooms are usually empty. Above the dispensers, signs are present that direct students to the nearest academy office or to the main office if they need hygiene products.
Aisha Ortiz, the lead administrator for student supports at the King Street and Minnie Howard campuses, said that students have “opened [the dispensers] up, removed them, so it’s not sustainable to keep them in practice because of the logistics. It’s hard to see into the bathrooms to actually manage it.”
The administration chose the academy offices as the chosen location for menstrual products at King Street because they are spread out across the campus and are easily accessible to students.
As for students who need menstrual products but choose to use the men’s restrooms, there is no signage on where the products are located. Ortiz says that the logical response from the student would be to go to the nurse’s office, where there is signage.
However, Virginia Senate Bill 232, passed in 2020, states that all school boards must make tampons and pads available in all middle school and high school bathrooms in the local school division. When asked about the bill, Ortiz stated that she was not familiar with it.
The nurse’s office at King Street also does not have menstrual products for students. The products were available there in prior years, but they were removed in an attempt to decrease traffic at the nurse’s office.
“It’s just too high a volume of needs with students with medicine and different things like that, and emergencies that are occurring,” said Ortiz. “There’s too much traffic there. Academy offices are a lot calmer, and they’re also spread out throughout the building, so it’s more accessible.”
The lack of available products is frustrating for students. Senior Mila Aida says that she does not usually carry menstrual products with her, which means she is not able to simply go to the bathroom when she needs products. “It’s just a hassle,” she says.
Freshman Liesl Schildknecht shares a similar experience. “It’s difficult, because you have to go to the academy office.” she said. “If it’s an emergency, you may not be able to get what you need.”
Both Aida and Schildknecht believe that the products should be provided in the bathrooms despite the potential disruptions. “I think that you would automatically expect products to be in the girls bathroom to begin with,” says Aida. “That way, they are easy and accessible.”
