A 2020 law requires schools across Virginia to offer menstrual products such as pads and tampons to students for free.
But it’s an unfunded mandate, leaving schools to figure out how to pay for supplies.
That’s something Del. Holly Seibold, D-Fairfax, wants to change.
Before she ran for office, Seibold advocated for access to menstrual products and founded Bringing Resources and Aid to Women’s Shelters, a nonprofit that provides menstrual products, undergarments and hygiene items to shelters, schools and community pantries.
Seibold has heard from constituents that the cost of purchasing supplies has prevented some schools from complying with the law, Dante Aralihalli, an aide for Seibold, said Thursday. She plans to seek funding during the upcoming legislative session for menstrual supplies in schools, though it’s too early for a concrete plan, Aralihalli said.
The law recently got a moment in the spotlight in Lynchburg.
Noncompliance there became apparent at Tuesday’s school board meeting, the third in a row where the board discussed projects proposed by the Gender and Sexuality Alliance at E.C. Glass High School. The club won a $10,000 grant from a nonprofit that supports LGBTQ+ youth and planned to use about $600 from the prize to pay for dispensers and menstrual products for the bathrooms at Glass.
In November, the board rejected the grant, which also would have paid for the creation of a “safe space” room and funded activities for the alliance. The board acknowledged that both the quiet room and the menstrual supplies were causes worth pursuing but hasn’t decided how to fund them.
Students from the alliance said in an interview this week that they must visit the school nurse’s office to get period products. It can take more than 5 minutes to reach that office from the furthest corners of the school, they said.
And teacher Katie Cyphert told the board at the meeting Tuesday that staff members have solicited donations or bought supplies on their own for students.
Samantha Citty also spoke at the meeting on behalf of the Lynchburg Junior League, which operates the Period Access Distribution Center, also known as the PAD Center. She said the organization has provided 400 period kits — monthly bags packed with menstrual supplies — to city schools just since the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year.
It can cost $20 per cycle to buy products like pads and tampons, Citty explained, and there’s still a stigma attached to talking about menstruation, especially for young people. With its kits, the center hopes to reach students and their family members who need regular help accessing the supplies they need.
“Many of our students are having to miss school because they do not have adequate period supplies that will get them through the day,” she said.
Superintendent Crystal Edwards said during the meeting that the division is aware it isn’t following the law, but that a remedy is in the works with facilities staff to bring schools into compliance.
Austin Journey, spokesperson for Lynchburg City Schools, confirmed Dec. 6 that the school division is working on making menstrual products available in restrooms at its middle and high schools, instead of in locations like a nurse’s office.
“This oversight is being addressed immediately, and supplies will be added to bathrooms in the coming weeks,” Journey said in a statement. “We appreciate the understanding of the LCS community as we work to rectify this issue.”
The law that took effect in summer 2020 requires that students have access to free menstrual products at all times while they’re at school.
For elementary schools, the school board is required to make menstrual supplies, including tampons and pads, available to students. The items can be offered in locations in each school as the local board “deems appropriate.”
For middle and high schools, the law is more specific: Tampons and pads must be available in bathrooms.
The law took effect in summer 2020, during the height of pandemic closures.
Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, who was chief patron of the 2020 bill, said in an interview Thursday that compliance initially wasn’t a priority due to the focus on COVID. There was some fear when the law was passed that the products available in schools would be misused, Boysko said, but that hasn’t proven to be true.
Boysko, who also championed Virginia dropping its sales tax on menstrual products in 2023, said it hasn’t been difficult to rally support around free access to menstrual products, especially in schools. Everyone “shares that value” that by helping students stay in school while they’re menstruating, “we’re helping them be successful,” she said.
Does your middle or high school offer free menstrual products in all restrooms? Tell us about your experience. Email Lisa Rowan at lisa@cardinalnews.org.
