"Tempest In a Toilet Bowl"

The Mayor and Department of Education are facing off against parents who are annoyed that they have to pay for their children's school toilet paper. The Mayor claims that school bathrooms are stocked, calling the worries "the perfect example of a tempest in a toilet bowl." But, according to the Daily News, some parents, who contribute $10-100 yearly to their children's schools, saw "toilet paper," as well as soap, tissues, and paper towels on the list of supplies needed; the DN also listed schools where there were TP shortages. But when the DoE opened closet doors, there was TP and paper towels. City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz, who heads the City Council's Education Committee, will be speaking at a hearing called, "Paper Towels, Soap and Toilet Paper," and lucky for us, it's a public hearing. Moskowitz points out, "When you are in the private sector, you don't bring your own soap to the job." True, but sometimes we wish we did - that one-ply is pretty rough.

This reminds Gothamist of a story from the start of this year where many students admitted they "hold it" and don't go to the bathroom at school. Semi relatedly, the Mayor unveiled a solid waste management plan last week.

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By Jen Chung in News on October 12, 2004 8:18 AM

Comments [rss]

jenny

ok, the TP and soap is a little much but I do remember having to bring in a box of Kleenex at the beginning of the year so we had it for the whole class. I mean, it was suburbia but I can't be the only one, can I?

S.D.

"Parents across the city were outraged this fall when some annual school supply lists included basic items such as paper towels, facial tissues, soap and even toilet paper."

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Wow. That's just sttupid. I don't know if this is the Mayor latest "Cost Saving" Plan, but I'd be P/O'ed too if my kid showed up with Soap and Toilet paper on the list of items to bring to school...

corie

Perhaps Bloomberg needs to be a student for a day at one of these schools. I can provide him with a list of schools that lack such things as toilet paper (also-- bathroom stall doors, clean facilities, etc), as could any other person working within the NCY public school system.

Dan

It is simply outrageous that the City administration is even discussing vanity projects like West Side stadiums and Freedom Towers and the Highline, when the state of the public schools is nothing less than scandalous.

joey

My lady friend is a NYC Teaching Fellow up in the South Bronx, and this is all very true. She had to put TP and paper towels on the students' supplies list, because the school doesn't provide them. If the students don't bring it in, she has to.

Give us our asspaper, Bloomberg!