Cassidy Bell and her Lincoln East High School classmates want to have a conversation.
And it's about a topic many students might not be comfortable discussing, let alone bringing before the Lincoln Board of Education, as Bell and fellow junior Smriti Ganesh did last month: Period poverty.
It means the lack of access to menstrual products that they say can create unnecessary hurdles for students, especially those from low-income families, pull students out of class and lead to stigmatization.
At Lincoln Public Schools, school nurses keep products — such as tampons, liners and pads — in their offices, according to health services coordinator Megan Lytle.
But East's Feminist Club, of which Bell is the president, wants LPS to grow that access — and members believe they have a model that works.
Last school year, members started a pilot product drive to stock East's bathrooms with free products, which Bell says is a more equitable model that removes stress for students and tears down barriers to access.
"It's important to dignity of the school population," she said.
At East, the health services office has products students can use for free and even take home, Principal Casey Fries said.
To go to the office, students must fill out an online form and be escorted there, which Bell argues can get in the way of instruction.
While Fries says he believes LPS does well stocking high-quality products for students, he said the club has raised some important questions.
"I think they identified an area that, to be honest, I don't think a lot of people have thought about," Fries said. "I knew we provided supplies. I think we do that very well at LPS. I think the question after hearing from Cassidy is are we providing them in the right location?"
Public awareness about period poverty has exploded in recent years. Numerous states have passed legislation requiring schools to provide free menstrual products.
In addition to products available in health offices, Lytle said some schools — like Lincoln High School — also stock them in first-aid kits because the health office might be on the other end of the building. Some bathrooms also have dispensers that charge a small amount of money.
Health services budgets a certain amount of money each year for menstrual products, Lytle said. Donors also provide them, including the nonprofit Towers of Tampon, which delivers feminine hygiene products to agencies, school and shelters in Lincoln.
"We know that those products can be really expensive," Lytle said. "Having them in the health office where students know they can come and get them ... it's just really important."
The work of East's Feminist Club has rekindled conversations about expanding access, however.
Lytle said the district is looking to collect data from the club's pilot program to see if districtwide implementation would be sustainable.
Ed Board member Kathy Danek, who planned to meet with the club this week, said she's checked with the schools in her district about access to menstrual products.
"We already provide the supplies in our schools, so that is the No. 1 thing. It's already there," she said. "I think the most important thing is we have them available, but the communication of the availability can be improved."
And at the very least, that's what the East students have done by bringing up the conversation, Fries said.
"It was something I'm really proud of for East and I'm proud of those students," he said.
Lincoln East High School students (from left) Emily Nieman, Grace Nieman, Amelia Richardson and Lawson Martinez helped hold a period product drive for their school at Hy-Vee recently.