A New Jersey principle discovered a common thread among students who skip class. So he came up with a genius plan to fill a heartbreaking need.
Many of the students at West Side High School in Newark won’t mind staying after school this year — it’ll give them a chance to get their laundry done.
Akbar Cook, the school’s principal, didn’t realize the problem until two years ago when one student fought with a school security officer who wanted to check her bag. It turned out the teenager was homeless, and she didn’t want anyone to know her bag was filled with dirty clothes.
But it wasn’t a problem for just that one student. School officials estimate up to 85 percent of students were chronically absent “rather than coming to school to be bullied or ridiculed” about wearing dirty clothes. Who would want to come to school when kids were mocking them and even posting pictures of their dirty outfits all over social media?
Akbar discovered the issue when he started making calls about the students’ absences.
So he went to Plan B: An in-school laundromat! Using a $20,000 grant, a football locker room was converted into a laundromat, complete with five washers and five dryers. The school year starts on September 4, and the facility will be open for several hours after school three days each week free of charge to the school’s 750 students.
While they wait for the wash and dry cycles to end, students will work with a teacher on STEM projects and explore their interests in the academic arena.