Piscataway School District Health Hazard: No Soap in Boys Room
at
CONACKAMACK Middls
School!
From: Bob Witanek [mailto:bwitanek@igc.org]
Sent: Saturday, June 24, 2006 8:11
PM
To: 'info@pway.org'; 'rcopeland@pway.org';
'LoCastro@pway.org'; 'hreid@pway.org'; 'Rafferty@pway.org'
Subject: CONACKAMACK: Can Someone
Pass me Some Soap?
Dear Administration and Board of Piscataway School District,
I had the pleasure to visit CONACKAMACK Middle School today for an event sponsored by the Metuchen – Edison NAACP. The event was a Juneteenth celebration of the end of enslavement of Africans coupled with a quarterly statewide meeting including presidents of all of the local organizations of the NAACP across the state.
I was most displeased, whenever I had to use the “boys” bathroom toward the front of the building. There was no soap! There were no soap dispensers and no bars of soap either. While this would be an annoyance to the organizations that arranged use of the building, it is a much bigger issue than that.
It is unconscionable that the district and building administration would run a school where there is no soap in the boy’s room. It is a health hazard to all of the male students as well as a violation of health codes. Further – how can you teach children proper hygiene without having soap in the bathrooms? I wonder what sickness resulted from boys using the bathroom and then having lunch or snack.
I looked into the matter and I learned that the lack of soap was not an accident but was an apparent policy – a collective punishment of the boys. Apparently, the school lost 3 soap dispensers this year to vandalism and thus decided not to replace them any more – instead to invite fester of germs to male students. Even after the end of the school year and before important organizations were making use of the school, the soap dispenser was not replaced. Perhaps it is good that the dispenser was not replaced before today’s event though since now the public is aware that there is no soap and the policy can be addressed.
I wonder if the parents of students were informed of the “no soap” policy. I am not a parent in the Piscataway district but I know if I had a child tell me that there is no soap in the public school bathroom, I would have trouble believing it. Well – seeing is believing – there is no soap in the CONACKMACK boys bathroom!
I am writing to you – not as a representative in any way of the organizations that arranged usage of the building today but as a co-founder of The NJ Student Advocacy Union. I hereby urge you to immediately resolve the issue of no soap in the boy’s bathroom at CONACKAMACK. I also urge you to personally investigate the soap situation in all of the public school building bathrooms in the Piscataway district to see if this policy is being pursued anywhere else.
I also believe that the board and administration should review its soap policies and bathroom vandalism policies. Apparently there is a need to communicate proper such policies to the principals of all of the buildings who are ultimately accountable for such decisions. A memo should be issued to all building principals and supervisors, as well as custodial staff, that soap is to be properly maintained (always available) in every bathroom in the Piscataway school system.
While there is apparently a legitimate issue of bathroom vandalism – we need to do better than not providing soap at all. There can be more frequent bathroom monitoring or tamper proof soap dispensers. What is clearly not a solution is to fail to provide soap all together. What is next – no toilet paper – if the students damage or steal the paper? We got to do better than that for our children.
There are apparently a few students who damage the soap equipment but no doubt, the overwhelming majority of students comply and use the equipment properly. It is always improper and a human rights violation to use collective punishment for the faults of the few. If the dispenser is frequently damaged, then it must be frequently fixed or replaced. Also – should there be a building rental to community organizations, there need to be procedures to double check and make sure soap has been provided.
You can monitor to catch in the act the perpetrator of such vandalism to put a stop to it. However, the kids need soap in the bathrooms – it makes good health sense and good common sense.
Please advise.
For Our Children,
Bob Witanek
NJ Student Advocacy Union
Co-Founder
Ask the Advocate
NJ Complaint Form (MS Word)
(PDF)
On Line Public Hearing on IDEIA 2004
Survey on NJ OSEP Complaint
Process
Past Activities
IEP Wkshp
Rec. Programs for
those w/ Disabilities
An Evening of Educational Advocacy
September 8, 2005 Edison, NJ
What The Student Advocate Has Done for Our Children
Lately . . .
NJ IDEIA 2004 Organizing Committee
Minutes of IDEIA 2004 meeting on Thu., May
26
Student Rights Radio
Discussion, October 31
Effort to
Reach Gubernatorial Hopefuls and Acting Governor / Candidates
IDEA: An Update
Dec. 5, 2005
Middletown
January 18,
2006: Hold a Candle Light for Our Children's Rights
50 Strong For Our
Children
No. Jersey Radio Interview Aired, 1/22
Petitioning for Rights Children: Legal in Princeton
Interview on NJ IDEIA Rights
- Racial Disparities in Sp-Ed
Call
is Heard in Montgomery Twp: Inclusive Recreation
NJSAU Minutes 2/18/2006
Playing and Singing for
Our Rights, 4/1/6
Better IDEA Laws for Special Education
Students?
Better IEPs? Anything is Possible!
April
1 Report: Student Advocacy Union - Fundraising Concert
Mobilization for Rights
of Our Children, May 17, 2006, Trenton
Nationwide Internet Radio Rally for Sp-Ed Parent Rights
9pm EST, Sat. May 20
Parents’ Rally @ Statehouse in Trenton Thursday, June 8, 2006
Piscataway Parents Mtg, June 19, 2006