Denver Public Schools has decided to stock all of the girls', women's and all-gender restrooms at its middle schools, high schools and elementary-middle schools with free menstrual products, reports Sentinel Colorado.
The school board's decision to stock free tampons and menstrual pads in these particular restrooms was motivated by a past campaign started by a then student at George Washington High School in Denver.
The stocking of girls' and women's restrooms with menstrual pads isn't yet mandated by district policy, though school board member Tay Anderson plans to introduce a resolution securing the rule. Anderson also plans to propose that free tampons be put in boys' and men's restrooms used by transgender students and staff.
Denver Public Schools isn't the first district in the United States to begin stocking girls' and women's restrooms with free menstrual products and it certainly won't be the last. In some cases, entire states are trying to mandate that free menstrual products be offered in all of their public schools. The movement to offer these products for free is intended to end period poverty, which is a common situation in which girls and women cannot afford to purchase these essential products.