PORTLAND, Ore. — Prescott Elementary School in Portland's Parkrose School District is one of three elementary schools in the district that will soon have washers and dryers installed on site — thanks to Care Counts.
Parkrose is the first Oregon school district to join the national program, reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB).
Care Counts is a national initiative, in partnership with Whirlpool and Teach for America, focused on providing washer and dryer access to students and their families in underserved communities in an effort to boost attendance numbers across the country since 2015.
According to the Care Counts' website, each school selected will have a trusted teacher, administrator or parent liaison to act as a program leader. The program leader works to identify students to participate in the program and anonymously keeps track of that student's loads of laundry, attendance and grades throughout the school year. Different schools have different systems, but the program leader will keep track of the progress of the program overall.
Prescott, Sacramento and Russell elementary have joined Whirlpool and Teach for America's efforts by having washer and dryer machines installed in its schools, OPB reported.
Principal of Prescott Elementary Nichole Watson said that it is common for some students to wear the same clothes multiple days in a row or multiple times a week. This may cause some students to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable consistently wearing dirty clothes to school and that may be contributing to a rise in absences.
Watson added that a set of clean clothes has a great impact for a students' self-esteem.
"Studies have shown that when students don't feel good about how they look, when they don't have clean clothes or access to fresh garments, that they oftentimes see an increase in absenteeism. We see an increase in students that stay home and miss school, and what we know about school is that attendance matters and instruction counts ... you've got to be in your seat," said Watson.
The appliances were delivered to Prescott Elementary just before the winter break. The school was also gifted $10,000 that will be allocated to retrofit a room within the school with the proper washer and dryer hookups.
A year's supply of detergent will be provided free of cost — thanks to Care Counts. The district hopes to have the machines up and running soon so students and their families can access.