You have to give these schools credit for being creative.
FOX News reports:
Detroit Public Schools bring out the latest weapon in arsenal to fight chronic absenteeism: Laundry machinesSteep payouts, ice cream, mini-breaks and – laundry machines?Schools are incentivizing kids to come to class as chronic absenteeism remains a major post-pandemic concern, but the lattermost – taking effect in Detroit Public Schools – might sound a bit unconventional without context.”I have the opportunity to come to the school and wash my son’s clothes,” parent Melania Willis, whose son is a senior at a local high school where she works as a security guard, told WXYZ-TV in The Motor City.”I do stay in an apartment and it’s hard for me sometimes to put money on the card because they close at a certain time,” she added.The machines found their way into local schools thanks to the help of Detroit Public Schools Foundation President Kerrie Mitchell and charitable donations and a GE Appliances investment.Willis said installing the washers and dryers helps kids from less privileged households, including one who has no running water at home and is bullied regularly.Though unclear if she was referencing the same student, she noted that one student who doesn’t have laundry machines at home approaches her and often asks her to take her clothes to the washing machine.”One student came to me like, ‘I don’t have a washing machine at home. Do you mind if you take my clothes to the washing machine, to the laundromat?’ So, I took it and brought it back to her,” she recalled.In another instance, Davis Aerospace Technical High School teacher Janine Scott said she noticed a student she thought had poor hygiene actually just needed to have his hoodie washed, and the problem extends to other students, especially of younger age groups, as well.Older age groups reportedly avoid the embarrassment by either finding ways to cover up the scent or staying out of class altogether.
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