The Millwood High School student council summoned the superintendent. There was an important issue to discuss.

The problem, the students said, was a lack of menstrual products in the school bathrooms. They laid out a case for why the school should provide these items and do it for free.

Superintendent Cecilia Robinson-Woods was surprised at how well they had researched their argument. She said she was mortified she hadn’t recognized the issue herself.

“It was a real blind spot to find out that I just had not considered the level of trauma that happens for kids who just can’t afford these products,” Robinson-Woods said.

With a charity drive from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Millwood Public Schools now provides free menstrual products in its high school bathrooms and makes them available in all schools on the Oklahoma City district’s campus.

Students who couldn’t afford the products no longer have to go without. Girls won’t have to wait lengths of time in the bathroom, hoping someone will come in with an extra pad or tampon.

But that’s not all the student council wanted.

“They said, ‘It’s horrible everywhere. This is not just Millwood girls. This is everywhere,’” Robinson-Woods recalled.

That’s why the superintendent contacted her local state lawmaker, Sen. George Young, D-Oklahoma City. He agreed to file a bill last year that would require schools to provide free feminine hygiene products in women’s restrooms, but it hit a dead end when it never got a committee hearing.

Young filed the measure again for the 2024 legislative session, which started Monday. He said he’s more optimistic the state Legislature will consider the issue because members of the Republican supermajority have filed similar bills.

One of them is Rep. Cynthia Roe, R-Lindsay, the head of the House public health committee. She filed House Bill 3329 to require middle and high schools to place free pads and tampons in all female and gender-neutral restrooms. Elementary schools would have to keep free products in a neutral location.

Roe said this is a common-sense solution to a problem with a variety of consequences.

Two in 5 American women struggle to afford period products, and a third of low-income women have reported missing school, work or similar commitments because of this lack of access, according to the Alliance for Period Supplies.

Roe, a nurse practitioner, said it also can become a health issue. Using any menstrual product longer than the recommended amount of time increases risk of infection.

Some metropolitan-area schools have local nonprofits that supply these products, but Roe said that’s not always the case in rural Oklahoma.

Legislative staff haven’t released a fiscal impact study of her bill, so it’s unclear how much it’s likely to cost. But, Roe said she and other lawmakers expect the measure to be relatively inexpensive.

In Millwood, for example, Robinson-Woods estimated the cost to be $1,000 a semester for the 1,100-student school district.

Roe said providing extra state funds for this expense would create uniformity across all public school districts and, for Oklahoma students, more peace of mind.

“I think we’ve all been in that situation of, ‘Oh my God, I’m not home and this happened,’” Roe said. “This would be more of a long-term solution for these girls.”

Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com. Follow Oklahoma Voice on Facebook and Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma bills seek to bring free menstrual products to schools