Methuen students urge free menstrual product dispensers; provide cost estimate

Four eighth‑grade students from the Fusco civics class at the Marsh Grammar School told the Methuen School Committee that lack of free feminine hygiene products in school restrooms causes missed class time and harms students’ comfort and attendance.

“Not having these products in the bathroom can negatively impact a student’s education,” said Nathan Touch, who spoke with classmates Leah Taeda, Sophia Cirilla and Lacey Cloutier during the public participation portion of the meeting. The students said their timing of the process — sign out, go to the nurse, wait for a nurse to retrieve a pad or tampon, return to the bathroom and then to class — took “6 minutes and 40 seconds” in their timed example.

The students asked the committee to approve installation of Go On Flow dispensers that dispense free pads and tampons. They shared vendor pricing: three Model E wall-mounted dispensers priced at $341 each (a total one‑time cost of $1,023) and an estimated annual refill cost of $1,458 for 4,500 pads and tampons, based on a supplier recommendation of 15 products per female student per school year. “All products in the dispenser are free to students,” the students told the board.

Superintendent Wong thanked the students and said he would work on the concern. Committee members did not take a formal vote on the request during the meeting. The students left posters and other materials with the superintendent’s office for follow‑up.

The students framed their ask as a classroom‑time and equity issue: they reported survey results they said showed 96 percent of surveyed students supported free products in bathrooms, 86 percent do not carry quarters needed for existing coin‑operated dispensers, and custodial staff told them they do not have keys to the current dispensers, limiting restocking. The students recommended the district evaluate the vendor pricing they supplied and consider using district or external funding to supply dispensers and one year of products.

The superintendent and committee members said they would review the request and the materials the students provided; no formal action or funding commitment was recorded at the meeting.