Brookfield High School on Feb. 26, 2015.
H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media
BROOKFIELD — A student or students were disciplined for destroying a newly installed menstrual products dispenser in a boys bathroom at Brookfield High School, according to the principal, who called it an “egregious instance of vandalism and destruction of property.”
Within about 20 minutes of its installation on Jan. 24, the dispenser, which was placed in the bathroom in response to an upcoming new state law, was vandalized, torn down and destroyed, school officials said in a statement.
Brookfield High Principal Marc Balanda sent an email on the same day to the school’s staff and students titled, “I am feeling ‘dis-’ right now,” and saying that he’s “disgusted” and “dismayed” by the behavior.
“A dispenser with menstrual products was installed in the boys bathroom near the (main office),” Balanda said in the email. “The installation was completed at 9:30 (a.m.). By 9:52 (a.m.), tampons were on the floor, the newly installed distribution box was ripped off the wall along with the masonry anchors, and the distribution box itself was destroyed.”
The law, which goes into effect Sept. 1, requires public schools serving students in grades 3 through 12 to “install coin-free dispensers or otherwise provide free access to a selection of menstrual products in all women’s restrooms, any all-gender restrooms (and) one men’s restroom per school.”
In the email, Balanda said that while the law refers to a men’s bathroom, the student’s acts of vandalism and destruction of property “were the work of immature boys, not men.”
The school will reinstall the dispenser box in a boys bathroom, Balanda said in the email.
Students should not resort to vandalism when they don’t understand something, he said. Instead, Balanda said, “ask for more information. Use your words to start a dialogue rather than using your hands to destroy something. In this particular instance, if you have questions, please let me know.”
An open dialogue in the school community “can help everyone understand the law, ensure a school environment where everyone is respected, and all students are supported,” said Matthew Cerrone, director of communications at the state Department of Education.
The reasoning behind the new law is that trans and intersex students can have access to sanitary products if they need them.
Brookfield Schools Superintendent John Barile told Hearst Connecticut Media on Monday that the dispenser issue “has since been addressed with the student,” but declined to provide further details. He also declined to share whether multiple students involved in the incident, due to privacy reasons, and declined to give details on the disciplinary action.
Barile additionally said he didn’t know why the dispenser was vandalized.
He also said police weren’t involved in the incident.
“This is an issue of vandalism/destruction of property,” he said. “Law enforcement is typically not involved in situations of vandalism/destruction of property unless the act rises to a much higher level of property destruction. The school is seeking restitution.”
Barile continued: “Brookfield High School is approaching this matter from a restorative perspective in that they are providing both education on the issue and work to remediate this issue with students.”
In Balanda’s email, he said there have been other instances where students have vandalized bathrooms in the school, including “breaking stall door hardware, soap dispensers ripped off walls, and various objects stuffed in toilets.”
Barile said menstrual dispensers have also been vandalized over the years in girls bathrooms. Balanda's email stated the school is continuing to discuss the best possible location for the all-gender bathroom.
The message of the student or students who vandalized the dispenser was “obscured by its delivery,” Brookfield Board of Education Chair Wendy Youngblood said Tuesday, adding she was speaking on her own behalf and not for the board. She had been unaware of the incident prior to being contacted by Hearst.
She said if the person who has damaged the dispenser “wants to make a point about some aspect of life at school, this is not an effective way of doing it. …Most importantly, it overruns the law and the rights of some people who need tampons.”
If having menstrual products in a boys bathroom is “confusing or unsettling,” for some in the school community, there should be “civil, open, constructive conversation,” she added.
Alex Harris, a Ridgefield resident on the advisory board at Ridgefield CT Pride, whose mission is to foster a sense of belonging in the LGBTQ+ community, told Hearst Connecticut Media the Brookfield High incident likely reflects “socialized misogyny” among teen boys as much as it does “socialized anti-trans hostility” in the community.
“Just as racism is socialized and not innate, so too for misogyny and anti-LGBTQIAA+ bigotry. All such feelings arise from socialized fear of 'otherness.' There is no reason for teen boys to fear period products … the people who require them or the use of such products anywhere,” Harris said.
“This sad incident is a perfect teaching opportunity, which … school administration needs to seize,” he said. “Schools are charged with imparting knowledge and understanding of reality to our youth. Menstruation and trans- or nonbinary people are simple facts of reality that threaten no one.”
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