Special education students to become teachers through laundry program

Beloit Memorial High School freshmen Darren Woods and Emily Lucian are part of the Loads to Success team that will provide laundry services to students who don’t have access to washers and dryers.

Special education student Emily Lucian will be a special instructor whose work may keep another student in school.

Lucian, 14, and 33 schoolmates at Beloit Memorial High School are learning how to do laundry.

When they are confident in their skills, the wash team will be called upon to teach laundry lessons to economically disadvantaged students, who each morning must decide whether to come to class in dirty clothes or just stay home.

“I do laundry at home and it is very hard for me,” said Lucian, a freshman. “But I’m getting better at it.”

Nobody wants to come to school with dirty clothing and that’s the reason for Loads to Success, a program that three special education teachers — Cody Klintworth, Lori Lange and Alexis Haenel — have started. They hope to raise $10,000 for equipment and supplies through crowd source funding.

Proposed: First such program in the country

They already teach their students how to wash clothes, but this program may also teach them the gift of passing on their knowledge.

“We are going to have special education students teaching the student who brought the laundry, how to do the laundry,” said Klintworth. “There are other schools doing this, but I believe we are the first school in the country where intellectually disabled students will do the laundry.”

Lange said she heard a NPR story this summer about a similar program in Arizona that drastically reduced absenteeism among students who no longer had to worry about their clothing stigma. Students already do athletic department laundry as part of life skills training, so extending the program to include clothing from disadvantaged students was a natural fit.

Whirlpool – Care Counts™ Program

Laundry equipment maker Whirlpool Corp. says teachers around the country estimate that nearly one in five students struggle with access to clean clothes. 

“More than half of teachers surveyed believe these students are more likely to struggle with absenteeism, a critical issue impacting an estimated five to 10 million students each year,” according to Whirlpool, which through its Care Counts program offers students access to washers and dryers in their schools.

Whirlpool reported these results from a 2,000 load pilot program it did at two school districts.

• 95% of participants showed increased motivation in class
• 95% of participants were more likely to participate in extracurricular activities
• 95% of participants interacted with peers and enjoyed school more
• 89% of participants got good grades

Whirlpool Care Counts™ School Laundry Program Exposes Link Between Clean Clothes and Attendance
 

Life Skills, Dignity & Self Respect

Beloit teachers hope to get the same results here, but first they’ll need equipment.

Right now there are two washers and two dryers at Beloit Memorial, although one of the dryers is broken and there’s no money to fix it. Fundraising will help the team have a maintenance budget and get at least two more washer-drier sets.

Klintworth said he’s been in contact with Whirlpool about its program and hopes Beloit will be considered for the program. In the meantime, Klintworth said the team is working to help eight students who don’t have access to laundry facilities.

“We’re teaching our students life skills, how to sort their clothes, wash their clothes, fold their clothes,” he said. “We’re also bringing back some of the dignity and self-respect that is lost when a student doesn’t have clean clothes.”
 

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