SANDPOINT, Idaho — A student at Sandpoint High School is petitioning to change how feminine hygiene products are distributed to students.
Idaho state law does not currently require school bathrooms to have products on hand. When a student needs feminine hygiene products, they have to go to he office if they don’t have any on hand.
“No girl wants to walk to the office to get them with a bunch of ninth grade boys around,” said Simone Poulin, the student behind the petition.
Poulin wants to see change in her school so students don’t always have to think about whether they have those products on hand.
“It’s just distracting you from class and it’s just as necessary as toilet paper,” she said.
The state law does not recognize feminine hygiene products as a basic necessity for students.
“My freshman year, there was a paid for dispenser but it was never stocked and it rarely even worked,” Poulin said. “We have to carry the weight of being prepared all the time when we could easily just get menstrual products.”
Poulin’s petition has already surpassed its goal of 200 signatures. Many people joined in on the conversation, saying this is not okay.
The Lake Pend Oreille School District said the high school has tried to implement Poulin’s plan in the past.
Principal Jacki Crossingham said “because available grant options are limited, we are considering other funding alternatives and reviewing discrete distribution methods to ensure accessibility and reduce potential vandalism.”
Poulin said this goes far beyond just Sandpoint High School. She wants to take this motivation and bring it to state legislators to hopefully change the state law.
“Put yourself in their shoes then maybe you would care a little bit more,” she said.
In Washington, all public and private schools are required by law to provide menstrual hygiene products in all gender neutral and female bathrooms, including those at colleges and universities.
“Idaho does it the Idaho way, which isn’t a bad thing always. But for this, it is not a good thing,” said Avery Hendrix, the founder of the Idaho Period Project.
Hendrix said teens like Poulin are leaders who will make the change happen.
“We’re just trying to get their dignity back and their independency and privacy,” Hendrix said.
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