The Simcoe County District School Board will be providing free menstrual products for its high-school students as of the next school year.
At its meeting Wednesday night, the board passed a motion that will see all of the female and single-use washrooms at all of its 14 secondary schools equipped with a menstrual product dispenser that will make the products available at no cost to students, beginning in the 2020-21 school year.
It was championed by the board’s three student trustees: Maya Aldis, of Nottawasaga Pines Secondary School, Mylan Nguyen, of Bear Creek Secondary School, and Fouz Ul-Mubeen, of Orillia Secondary School.
“It shows the engagement of our student trustees and the high level of leadership they bring to our board,” said board chair Jodi Lloyd.
The move aligns with the board’s priority to focus on equity, she added.
“For some socioeconomic reasons, some people don’t have access to these products when required,” she said. “We don’t want them not coming to school because of this.”
Shortly after the decision was announced, Lloyd saw a comment from someone who would like to see the products and dispensers in elementary schools, too.
“We have to start with what we can manage at this point,” she said. “We’d have to go back and bring it forward to do it for elementary schools. It’s not out of the realm of possibility going forward, but this is a significant start."
The cost to start offering the dispensers and products is $30,000. It will cost $5,000 annually to maintain.
