Nine Manhattan schools are receiving washers and dryers -- donated from a school in New Jersey that wants to remain anonymous. August 20, 2024.
© Tanya Breen + © Problem Solved / USA TODAY NETWORK
(New York, NY) – With school just about to get started again for millions of school kids in New York City, a donation from across the Hudson River aims to help make life easier. An anonymous school from New Jersey has donated washing machines and clothes dryers to nine schools on the Upper West Side. The hope is this will help kids who are either homeless, lower income, or recently-arrived migrants — in terms of keeping their clothes clean.
Research has shown that kids will choose to stay home and avoid school entirely rather than wear dirty clothes to class, day after day. On Monday the washing and drying machines arrived, meaning the school year will grant kids a chance to wash their clothes. West Side Movers provided their services free of charges and moved the machines in. One of the schools that received machines is Louis D. Brandeis High School — located on West 84th Street. School officials maintain the washers and dryers will boost school attendance.
New York City requires children between the ages of six and 17 to attend class full time. The NYC Department of Education says 36% of New York City public school students were chronically absent in the 2022–2023 school year — up from the previous year, when the figure checked in at over 40%. Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing at least 10% of the school year.
