{"id":2794,"date":"2022-11-04T10:23:29","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T14:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/?p=2794"},"modified":"2022-11-04T10:23:30","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T14:23:30","slug":"feminine-hygiene-product-dispensers-installed-in-womens-bathrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/feminine-hygiene-product-dispensers-installed-in-womens-bathrooms\/","title":{"rendered":"Feminine Hygiene Product Dispensers Installed in Women\u2019s Bathrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Sanjana Jain, Design Editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In accordance with the newly passed House Bill 0205, the Howard County Public School System installed feminine hygiene product dispensers in women\u2019s bathrooms at all high schools in Howard County. As stated in the bill, these dispensers will contain \u201csize\u2013appropriate tampons or sanitary napkins for use in connection with the menstrual cycle,\u201d and will be filled on a regular basis by each school\u2019s custodial staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of this bill is to ensure that all menstruating students who attend a public school in Maryland have access to menstrual products when necessary. \u201cI hope it means less missed instructional time,\u201d said Principal Mikaela Lidgard, \u201cI think there are times when people who menstruate can\u2019t predict when they\u2019re going to have their cycle\u2026and there are multiple places now in the building where students can get access to menstrual products will mean they will be able to take care of their health wellness and get right back to class.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reducing the amount of missed instructional time (not only during school hours but in general) seems to be one of the primary focuses of the bill. Written testimonies in favor of passing the bill were presented to the Maryland General Assembly on January 27, 2021.  The anticipation is that after the installment of dispensers, students will feel more comfortable attending school while menstruating knowing that they have continuous access to necessary products.  Several of these testimonies under this bill mention that providing access to free and available menstrual products \u201cincreases school attendance and extracurricular participation,\u201d as stated by Laura Stewart, the VP of the Montgomery County Council of Parent Teacher Associations (MCCPTA). Stewart went on to comment that \u201cstatistics indicate that nearly one-in-five American girls have left school early or missed school entirely due to an inability to access menstrual products\u201d (MSPA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stress is also an important factor to be considered when discussing menstruation. As stated in her testimony before the General Assembly, Alina Glass from Happy Period Baltimore touches on the obsessive tampon changing and \u201ca quick \u2018Can you check me\u2019 to [her] friends,\u201d which is a common occurrence for any menstruating student. Along with stress, embarrassment is also on students\u2019 minds. \u201cBecause of societal stigmatization of menstruation, it can be difficult to talk to even your parents about your period, let alone ask a teacher for a pad or tampon,\u201d said Alina in her testimony. \u201cBy providing free products in restrooms, students could completely avoid this uncomfortable situation and be on their periods in school stress-free.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis will make life so much easier,\u201d continued junior Kayla Garnett. \u201cYou won\u2019t have to text a friend who\u2019s in a class on the other side of the school and meet up for a pad because now you\u2019ll be able to go into the bathroom and get one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two bathrooms – the women\u2019s bathroom near the cafeteria and the women\u2019s bathroom in the arts hallway – had dispensers installed. These dispensers will contain T500 tampons and MT-4 maxi-pads which are free-to-use and available to all students. The Howard County Public Schools Purchasing Department has confirmed the delivery of 196 dispensers, 234,000 T500, & 156,000 MT-4 for the 2022-23 school year, and will order more based on need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

River Hill\u2019s female students noticed the installation of these dispensers immediately, but were initially unsure of their purpose. Junior Grace Li said, \u201cI did hear about the installation of pad and tampon dispensers, but I heard conflicting opinions and someone said it was free but someone else said that you had to pay for them. I think if it\u2019s going to be implemented, the maintenance of them should be prioritized more by whoever\u2019s installing them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a step in the right direction. I am so proud of the school for finally getting these in, but to me they are long overdue,\u201d said Kayla. \u201cI feel like so many places have period dispensers but they\u2019re not free, even though our period is not something that we can control. It\u2019s not something that we should have to pay for,\u201d she said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially this bill was pre-filed (formally proposed and submitted before the legislative session began) on September 24, 2020, and its first hearing took place on December 22 in front of the Maryland House of Delegates. On February 25 2021, the third reading occurred and votes were cast. Out of the 141 Maryland state Delegates, 93 voted Yea and 43 voted Nay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 After this success, the bill was passed to the Senate of Maryland. On March 31, the third reading passed; all 47 senators voted in favor of passing the bill. Once it was re-reviewed in the original chamber, it was passed to Maryland Governor, Larry Hogan, for his signature. However, Governor Hogan failed to sign the bill within 30 days of it reaching him, allowing the bill to become a law without his signature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passing bills is a combined legislative effort, but one student of River Hill\u2019s 2022 graduating class was instrumental in having this bill passed. Current Rice University freshman Riya Seth worked closely with lobbyists to achieve this feat, and explained that she \u201csaw a need in our community. I always felt like it was really inconvenient that there weren\u2019t pads or tampons in our bathrooms and the fact that we had to go to the nurse\u2019s office was a huge inconvenience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Riya explained how an organization she was interning at was a part of NARAL Pro-Choice America, and that organization was responsible for \u201c[lobbying] different legislators,\u201d and that she \u201ctestified for the bill once it was introduced; I wrote up a written testimony.\u201d She is currently working on figuring out how to begin the process of installing similar dispensers at Rice University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from Riya\u2019s efforts and the several written and verbal testimonies from various organizations, the HB205 is sponsored by Democrat Kirill Reznik – one of the three members of the Maryland House of Delegates from District 39. He has helped pass or sponsored several bills similar to this one, bills that have and will greatly improve the quality  of thousands of students’ school lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As stated by Megan White – an elementary school teacher in a Baltimore City Public School –  in her written testimony: \u201cIt is at the heart of public education to not only meet students\u2019 academic needs but also their physical ones.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Sanjana Jain, Design Editor In accordance with the newly passed House Bill 0205, the Howard County Public School System installed feminine hygiene product dispensers in women\u2019s bathrooms at all high schools in Howard County. As stated in the bill, these dispensers will contain \u201csize\u2013appropriate tampons or sanitary napkins for use in connection with the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":2795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/unnamed-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2796,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2794\/revisions\/2796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}