That’s according to a recent survey of Utah high schoolers conducted by The Period Project. Organizers behind the initiative, born out of Utah-based nonprofit The Policy Project, were instrumental in getting HB162 passed in 2022. Gov. Spencer Cox later expanded the requirement to include state buildings.
“The purpose of putting period products in schools was not to replace students’ main source of period products,” said Brooke Gledhill Wood, the Policy Project’s chief of staff, during a webinar last week about the survey, “but really to be there in times of emergency, or when they forgot products or started unexpectedly.”
The survey focused on high schoolers, though the requirement applies to all grades. Roughly 1,440 anonymous high school students across 20 of Utah’s 29 counties responded. Collectively, they represented 120 schools.
The nine-question survey aimed to evaluate if HB162 achieved its two primary goals: improving educational outcomes by increasing productivity and school attendance among students who have periods; and destigmatizing menstruation through normalized access to period products.
Overall, the survey suggests that the law has been successful on those fronts, but students did voice concerns and requests about the quality of the period products provided.
Read the full story at sltrib.com.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.