By Gus Saltonstall
Seven Upper West Side schools received free laundry machines on Monday thanks to a chain reaction of good deeds.
An anonymous school in New Jersey had extra washers and dryers in storage and needed the space, so officials went online to check where they could be donated.
They found news coverage of Councilmember Gale Brewer’s letter to the city pushing for more laundry machines in Upper West Side schools amid the uptick of students in shelters, which West Side Rag was the first to report on. The Jersey school cold-called Brewer’s office to see if they could set something up.
Brewer reached out to Upper West Side-based West Side Movers to ask for help. They said that they would move the machines for free.
On Monday, the moving company picked up the washers and dryers in New Jersey and delivered them to the following seven Upper West Side schools.
- Urban Assembly for Green Careers: 145 West 84th Street
- P.S. 145 Bloomingdale School: 150 West 105th Street
- P.S. 9 Sarah Anderson: 100 West 84th Street
- P.S. 241 STEM Institute of Manhattan: 240 West 113th Street
- Community Action School: 154 West 93rd Street
- P.S. 163 Alfred E. Smith: 163 West 97th Street
- Frank McCourt HS/Brandeis Campus: 145 West 84th Street
Four other schools not on the Upper West Side also received new laundry machines.
“It struck a nerve that there was an issue with kids coming to school without clean clothing and this was a very easy thing for us to be able to help with,” Matt Fiore, the second-generation owner of West Side Movers, which has been in the neighborhood since 1972, told West Side Rag. “We just feel like we are part of this community and it was our turn to step up.”
Brewer has contended that the lack of laundry service in many shelters, including those where migrant families are staying, contributes to a kid not attending school.
“Students who do not have clean clothes are less likely to go to school,” Brewer wrote in a letter to Department of Education Chancellor David Banks. “I feel very strongly that laundry service should be accessible where school leaders determine that the lack of clean clothes is preventing their students from accessing education.”
Her office found that 38 of the 45 schools in the Upper West Side’s District 3 did not have a washer or dryer, and that 31 of those school had 10 students or more living in some form of temporary housing where laundry service was unlikely to be available.
“By providing washers and dryers, it’ll give the kids a sense of school pride and will help to turn the needle up where attendance is concerned,” Kevin Bourne, a business manager for the UWS Urban Assembly of Green Careers school, told CBS News.
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Why don’t these schools become live-in boarding schools so that students living in shelters will have a stable shelter?
We’ll just file your comment under “heartless”.
So who’s going to do that laundry for the elementary school kids? Assuming it’s not the kids but their caregivers, who’s going to supervise the adults while they do laundry? This is such a crazy idea all around. Just really relieved our school is not on the list.
Caregivers? Who does the laundry at Trevor Day?
It is only going to get crazier.
We’ll just file your comment under “heartless”.
You repeatedly label ppl as heartless for seeing things a different way but what is heartless about having some expectations of even the poorest ppl that they can wash clothes out in the sink if need be and hang them on a line—it’s respecting them and their ability to do things instead of assuming they are helpless
Perhaps instead you should be grateful that your children have stable homes and don’t need these services.
I know the comments to this article will be cruel.
As a teacher of 15 years in a low income community of the city, and now a superintendent overseeing many schools, these types of accommodations are so critical to developing an effective learning community and supporting students and families in need.
A child knows when they’re wearing soiled clothes. Or smells poorly. Or can’t access the most basic supplies for hygienic needs.
Our schools are already stocking clean clothes for these students. The clothes are often purchased by school staff, hauled home for cleaning after a day of teaching, and returned for use with no expectation of reimbursement or praise.
Public, parochial – even private – all have systems in place to handle these needs.
Why begrudge donated machinery that supports a student walking into class in clean clothes?
To the staff at these schools, I have the greatest admiration. If there’s disdain in the comments, it’s because they didn’t have educators like you.
Thank you for this comment, Jack. I’ve worked in very low income communities, and with at-risk children and families. I know children who did not know where they would sleep and when they’d eat, let alone where they would do laundry. There was no laundry machine in the schools I worked in (at least at the time), but I KNOW teachers who brought clean clothes for children to change into, and who did this quietly and without shaming the children. I KNOW teachers who brought food for children who did not always have any, or who missed breakfast because of logistics they had no control over. I know, because I did that, too. Caring for children is the responsibility of ALL of us. Part of education is to teach children that they are valuable, and that we SEE them and will help them. I don’t understand the disdain in some of the comments. And … even if the caregivers of SOME of these children could be making better choices – what fault is it of the child? The least we can do is offer vulnerable, at-risk children, the opportunity for a dignified, caring experience at school.
No, as someone who made a choice to remain happily child free, “caring for [others’] children” is not my responsibility.
My apartment building doesn’t have laundry in it, there are very few self-service laundromats on the UWS and yet, I manage to figure out how to do my laundry so I have clean clothes.
Just want to thank you for your clear and compassionate explanation, Jack. Teachers are among the best (and often the least rewarded) members of our community.
I went to a high school that was 70% immigrant, and most of us had parents who worked jobs like seamstress, janitor, etc… Yet, somehow these immigrant parents many of whom barely understood English made sure that their kids came to school in clean clothes, cheap, but clean clothes. Studied hard and brought home straight As. The issue is not low incomes, the issue is not giving a damn about your kids.
@mike: This is helpful. Were any of those families living in homeless shelters? If so, can you provide some details about how they did their laundry?
I do not know. However if poor Russian, Chinese, Korean and Indian immigrants could figure out how to provide clean clothes for their kids, then perhaps the new crop of immigrants as well as people lucky enough to be born in the US can figure it out too?
That is such a sad and selfish remark. Even if it were caregivers – I think they have more things to worry about besides bothering your children. Well apparently you can breath a sigh of relief that “those children” are not in your school.
I’m sure it won’t be mean-spirited people.
Please scroll down to the article on volunteers helping to provide free clothes to kids in need. I suspect that could be a solution, but our schools are smart and able to figure this out.
There’s no reason the kids can’t do their own once taught how to use the equipment properly.
I started doing my own laundry when I was 9 or 10. I’m the youngest of 4 with a large age spread and my mom was tired of doing it for the family… my older siblings were out of the house, but the younger of my brothers, who was still at home, and I were tasked with our own laundry.
We both were practically the only ones in our freshman dorms who knew how to do our own laundry when we started college. It’s a good skill to have.
How fortunate for you that you don’t have to worry about children in your school who are without access to a laundry. This is not something new and other schools have had no problem working it out.
Kudos to Whirlpool for starting this program and to everyone else who is participating!
Edit:
https://www.teachforamerica.org/stories/supporting-the-whole-child-with-access-to-clean-clothes
https://www.moodyonthemarket.com/whirlpool-school-laundry-program-reaffirms-how-clean-clothes-drive-better-attendance/
Is there anything we can do to support the folks who use them – like supplying laundry detergent … which is really expensive. Better yet, a huge supply of one of the soap-sheet brands to avoid the plastic bottles (I’ve used them for almost 5 years and they clean really well)
I thought of this too and decided I’m going to drop off laundry detergent and supplies to the schools that are nearby and received the new washer/dryers. I’m certain they’d appreciate it.
The parents in these comments are always very cruel and completely out of touch with what the situation is for so many children in our community. Be thankful for what you have and understand that people as close as next door are living with challenges that you thankfully may never have to experience.
Claire,
While I believe there is need for laundry facilities in some schools, it seems to me that dubbing skeptics as “cruel” or some other criticism/label is not the best way to change minds….
I disagree. I think we should make it clear that there are social consequences for being nasty and heartless about the needs of children–children!–from homeless shelters who dare to be in the same space as a poster’s precious little Matilda. If you want to be judgmental (and let’s be honest, some commenters here have zero trouble saying awful things about people who they think won’t be reading them/aren’t “Upper West Siders”), you get judged back. Disconcerting, isn’t it?
So opinions that differ from your own are automatically “nasty and heartless”? And deserving of “consequences”? This is exactly why civil society is breaking down. Because people of a complete intolerance of different opinions. This is the exact reason for hyper-polarized politics in this country. You are contributing to the problem. This is a community forum and there should be room for discussion without name calling and shaming.
Sadly, many people feel that they’ve got theirs, so to hell with everyone else.
They are also the same people who wonder why the dropout rates are high or why we have seemingly aimless and unsupervised kids on the streets. Whatever can be done to encourage school attendance and achievement ought to be done, either by government funding or private funding.
I hope children of the nay-sayers have enough to eat, a decent bed to sleep in and clothes to wear, and the love and encouragement from their parents (or nanny…). It ought be a goal for all children. The US is a rich country that can do better.
Laundry service should be provided elsewhere, not by schools.
Why? The schools want to provide this service and clearly believe it would be beneficial to their students.
…”beneficial to their students” is key here. Whether it is clean clothing,, breakfast, or afterschool activities, whatever it takes to have them attend classes and thrive in their studies will benefit their futures and all of society.
You keep saying “whatever it takes”… how about $250,000 to install that laundry machine by DOE unions? Does common sense and economic reasoning ever come into your “whatever it takes equation”? Do you know how many years of weekly laundry is that?
Sad state of affairs. How did it come to this?
Is the stigma of showing up for school carrying your laundry any less than showing up for school wearing dirty clothes? I appreciate their concern but this doesn’t make a ton of sense.
Also, for much of earth’s history people cleaned clothes without washing machines. If it is this big of an issue, they can wash their clothes in the sink.
I appreciate using the unused washing machines to help those who don’t have them, but this just doesn’t seem like the best idea. I’m sure there are NYCHA facilities or battered women’s shelters or something similar that could also use these.
And to the great comment above, who is doing the laundry. Schools have become increasingly strict (and rightly so) about who is allowed in. They are going to make an exception for people to do laundry? Really?
Once again, people are so open minded that their brains fall out.
In the documentaries that I’ve seen the kids were all doing their own laundry. There may have been a supervisor from the school for the younger kids. I don’t understand why there would be any stigma attached to this.
Thank you for publishing Gale Brewer’s press release about “laundry machines.”
I thought the main obstacle for this initiative was not the machines themselves, but that schools did not have wiring, plumbing, or space to set up and run the machines, which could only be installed by the DOE construction authority (whatever that is called), which had no budget or time for it.
We had a similar issue at our daughter’s schools. Fundraising covered ACs for classrooms, but it took something like 3 years for the DOE to upgrade the wiring to run them in one of the schools, and in the other school, the ACs still are not installed 🙁
Thank a union.
Laundry machines have been put in various low-income schools throughout the U.S.
This is particularly needed in places where there is limited public transportation/local laundromats are not easily accessible.
I’d appreciate a fuller discussion about how neighborhood laundromats have been lost to gentrification/high-rents etc. Many people need laundry facilities – not just students.
Could WSR also report on the situation with the Regent Family shelter on 104th Street?
It was my understanding that the building had to be vacated due to building issues.
Many of the kids in the shelter attended PS 145.
While I am familiar with similar programs and believe in the need, I am puzzled by Council Member Brewer’s selection of some of these schools – as there are laundromats a block or two away?
I believe there are laundromats on 84th Street, 85th Street, 104th Street and 105th Street among others that families would be able to access.
Also I thought Micky Mantle, a special ed school, mostly had students busing in – the kids would bring their laundry on the school bus?
There actually might be more need in Council Member Abreu’s district…..
Also some of the hotels/shelters currently providing housing to migrants currently do provide laundry service.
And actually the City’s new RFP seeking contractors to operate shelter (ie hotels, residences, etc) for migrants specifies that laundry services must be provided.
So, where are some of these folks supposed to get the money to pay for a load of laundry in a laundromat??????
I’m all for providing washing machines/dryers for those without access to them but if the need is due to the uptick of people using shelters, wouldn’t it make more sense to put these machines in the shelters?
Do we know that shelters don’t have laundry facilities?
With just a 33% reading proficiency in these schools maybe there should be a recommitment to core functions of schools and less on the feeding and now laundering and clothing of the students—long ago poverty stricken immigrants somehow managed to send in clothed and fed children
Bold of you to come out in favor of letting students starve. Some people might think that being hungry interferes with a student’s ability to learn. Some people might think that children left to go hungry end up feeling like they’re not valued by society and so have no stake in it and no incentive to work hard and do right. But you’ve cracked the code!
Did you not read or understand my comment? I said they were fed
Finally someone who understands the core issue.
This makes me wonder if the family shelters for the asylum seeking flies are going to be a permanent thing. But good the kids can go to school in clean clothing
The negative comments here are devastating to me.
As a lifelong New Yorker and public school student in the 60’s and 70’s, and a public school parent more recently, I can attest to the limited resources and huge challenges that some families are forced to manage.
How wonderful and creative to care for and about children through this brilliant arrangement.
Thank you Gale Brewer and West Side Movers, for your humanity.
I’m heartened by this. I know that many prefer to not think about (or be confronted with) the realities of children who are experiencing homelessness or other realities of instability. Perhaps it feels better to not have to think of it, but the reality is that there ARE children who otherwise won’t have access to clean clothing, for no fault of their own. Providing children with the dignity of being able to have clean clothing, and having SOME control over their out-of-control lives, is a good thing. It is the humane thing. As for the logistics of who would do the laundry, or how it can work during school hours – those are solvable things. How about some of us who live near these schools and may have some flexibility in our schedules, volunteer to help? Children matter. Dignity matters.
Many points of confusion here, but not because I don’t think children need clean clothes. Of course I agree with that. This feels like a very strange avenue to accomplish that goal, though, and feels like Brewer just wanted to put out a press release seeming like she was doing something. Some questions I have, if anyone has insight:
1. Who is helping children wash their clothes and when? If this is during the school day, I could see many kids being too embarrassed to leave class to do their laundry. If it is before or after school, who is supervising them? Without a plan, this feels short sighted.
2. Why are these not being placed in schools in areas with the fewest laundromats? There are three self service laundromats total from riverside to CPW from 86th to 104th, yet only two of the seven schools are within this block.
3. Who is liable if a piece of clothing gets lost or ruined? If a child makes a mistake doing their laundry, are schools on the hook to compensate parents or replace?
This is excellent, so glad to know how these good deeds came together. special kudos to all involved: the donors, Gail Brewer, Matt at West Side movers , the teachers and other school officials etc etc. Now young people can have the comfort and please of cleaner clothing, ….and some may even learn the life-skill of doing the laundry! All good.
This is wonderful for all the low-income children in these schools. There is no greater indignity than walking around in filthy clothes. Being impoverished comes with many consequences and many emotional scars. It is wonderful that there will be an option for those in need. Children are always innocent of these circumstances and deserve to be properly taken care of. The folks grumbling about this should think about what it feels like to be a child/tween/teen with dirty clothes and how shameful (not to mention unhygienic) this would be, and develop some compassion.
I suspect part of the grumbling is related to other (valid) concerns that in general we (as a city and nation) seem to be able to supply money and infrastructure to non-citizens and others before first addressing the many systemic issues and needs of our citizens. There is nothing wrong with helping others and indeed it is good to do so, but when tax-paying citizens feel their needs, safety issues and infrastructure are in a disarray but others are being attended to, it naturally creates resentment, frustration and envy. It is a strange thing about liberalism that after decades of this social energy, (12 out of 16 of the last years of Presidential governance being democrat), that we never have really solved major social issues such as homelessness, mental illness, substance use disorders, poor education, food scarcity, healthcare, crime — and yet while all this remains unsolved, we can scramble and throw money at other problems such as migrants taking over housing units.
I am happy for the schools & the children and families who will benefit; at the same time questions arise —
1. why do we not have better infrastructure in place already? why must public schools be turned into pseudo-laundromats?
2. who will be financially responsible and practically responsible for maintaining this? who supplies the laundry detergent? who is doing the washing (which unfortunately can be quite unsanitary at times — lice, bedbugs, viruses etc)? how will this be maintained?
I worry this has the potential to place additional undue burden on our public school teachers who are already so overwhelmed.
(*I know this is a long comment, but hope it will be shared)
There are many in this community who are not aware of the tensions between NYC public school parents and DOE administrators. Since the second de Blasio term, a far-left cohort of tin-eared, condescending administrators has lowered academic standards including limiting homework. Many parents are unhappy, but when they voice their concerns, they are maligned and othered as “racist” or “privileged”. Yes, all families should be welcome in the public schools. Yes, all children should be met where they are. However, too many DOE administrators (including Superintendents and Principals) prioritize their own subjective sense of “fairness” and would rather focus on the schools as a social service agency and not the schools as a place to learn academic subjects.
I am sure if you asked the head of one of these schools they would answer your many concerns. Yes there are many problems in our city but seriously are we going to get upset about donated washing machines?
What a great story about caring so much that they go out of their way to help children in need. It’s wonderful to read about people who are kind and generous. I still believe that’s the core of who we as New Yorkers and even as Americans, despite the loud hateful people among. People who care still outnumber people who hate.
The City’s RFP for hotels and shelters for migrants does specify provision of laundry services. (P. 6)
https://www.nyc.gov/assets/hpd/downloads/pdfs/services/hro-hpd-asylum-emergency-rfp.pdf
what if not a migrant?
Gale, please tell us the plan and timing for hooking these up, so that they can actually be used.
It’s ironic how many rent-paying and tax-paying residents do not have access to laundry facilities or laundromats. First, landlords are not required to provide them. Then. when the Bloomberg administration massively hiked rates for water, many laundromats closed their doors or shut down operations to the public. Three hundred residents signed a petition asking Gail Brewer’s office for help when a major local laundromat was scheduled to close, yet received none. As usual no one cares about actual residents.