Still Providing the Basics!

With budget cuts across the U.S., the potential for a lack of cleaning supplies and necessary paper products is real. The following article from Florida shows just how serious this problem has become in some areas. We are fortunate in that we have not come to this point in our buildings. Read on and be thankful our buildings are supplied properly even during times of economic stress.


From classroom walls to bathroom stalls, posters in Broward County schools urge good hygiene to stop the spread of germs. But when students and teachers try to practice what the posters preach, they sometimes find there's no toilet paper or soap.
At Meadowbrook Elementary in Fort Lauderdale, paper towels and toilet paper are in such short supply that teachers have been asked to stock the lavatories, said Nanci Hunt, the school librarian. To extend the life of the school's limited supply of hand towels, teachers cut them in half or thirds, she said.
"There are times you go into the bathroom, and there's no toilet paper at all and you found out too late," Hunt said. "We are bringing in our own stuff."
She blames the toiletry troubles on money, or rather lack of it.
Schools Superintendent James Notter warned there would be few frills this school year, thanks to a budget crisis that forced the district's 285 school principals to slash spending by 4 to 6 percent.
Still, he said, principals and janitorial staffs are responsible for meeting the needs of their campuses and teachers "should not be paying out of their pockets for the bare essentials."
Barren bathrooms are not a districtwide problem but a school-by-school issue.
At Silver Ridge Elementary in Davie, for example, the bathrooms are "never out of supplies," said fifth-grade teacher Mary Hansen. But teachers at more than a dozen schools have complained about the issue to the Broward Teachers Union.
The lack of toilet paper and soap is more than an inconvenience. It's also a potential health hazard as clean hands are the first line of defense at keeping respiratory illnesses, the flu and other germs at bay.
Yet James Kalmer, a history teacher at Boyd Anderson High School, said "hand soap is rare to nonexistent" at his school in Lauderdale Lakes, even though flyers taped to the walls urge people to "Clean your Hands."
"People are concerned about the spread of the flu or other viruses," he said.
As a result, hand sanitizer has become a hot commodity on campus and Kalmer said the hallways have the feel of a marketplace for the alcohol-based, germ-killing gel.
Boyd Anderson parents called local businesses "to see if they could help us until the school could reorder or restock," said Thomas Douglas, president of the school's Parent/Teacher/Student Association. "At one point it was a serious issue. Kids used to bring their own from home — toilet paper."
Douglas said district administrators tell parents this shouldn't happen.
"We understand there's a budget crunch across the board, and we're not trying to be antagonistic. We're trying to help resolve some issues," he said.
Coconut Creek High School teachers say there is, "No soap. No paper towels [they claim they clog the toilets] … and the water in the sinks does not always work!" At Deerfield Beach High School: "Often the staff bathrooms are out of toilet paper, paper towels or soap."
At South Plantation High School, there are times when toilet paper and soap are missing in the 25 student and staff bathrooms but the issue isn't a lack of supplies, said Principal David Basile. It's usually a custodial glitch.
"The problem we have is when someone on the night crew is out and no one covers that zone," Basile said. "Or we have a day crew, and no one walks through the bathrooms."
"It's really hit or miss," said parent-activist Alanna Mersinger, whose son attends Everglades High School in Miramar and has not heard complaints about the facilities.
Coral Springs High School's faculty council took up the "no soap/paper towel" problem at its October meeting.
According to the minutes, they determined "the janitorial staff needs to develop a more-efficient system of replenishing the needed supplies during the day."
The faculty's solution: Students tell teachers, who buzz the front office, which notifies a janitor.
Students at Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland don't bother sounding the alarm when the soap dispenser doesn't squirt, said senior Itai Raz.
"We get really frustrated," he said. "But most people have hand sanitizer."
Akilah Johnson can be reached at akjohnson@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4527.
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