Kids Were Being Bullied For Dirty Clothes, So This Principal Installed Free Laundromat And School Attendance Rose By 10%
Sometimes it takes a village to raise a child – or in the case of these students – a school. When Akbar Cook – a vice principal for the West Side High School in Newark, New Jersey – started at his job he knew he was finally in a position to make a real change in his students’ lives, and he did. But probably no one, including Mr. Cook himself, could imagine how far his impact would really go. His idea of introducing a laundry room to the high school was so successful, it started a snowball of change. This week, Mr. Cook piloted a program called Cook Educational Solutions, intended to help out other schools implement his fruitful initiatives.
More info: West Side Lights On
High school principal Akbar Cook noticed his students were being bullied for their dirty clothes
Image credits: Akbar Cook
When Mr. Cook became a vice principal at West Side, he was concerned with the growing problem of bullying, which was causing students to skip school. The problem was so dire that almost 85 percent of the students had been reported skipping over the past few years. Akbar found out that many of the youngsters at West Side High School couldn’t afford washing their uniforms, so they were choosing to stay at home rather than coming to school dirty only to be ridiculed by their peers. Bullies would snap pictures of their classmate’s dirty collars or stained pants and post them to social media. The principal also recalled an incident back in 2016 where a security officer tried to check one girl’s bag and was met with screams and a fight not to let him see what it contained. Later authorities found out that she was carrying her dirty clothes in the bag because she was temporarily homeless and was afraid people would find out. “She was fighting for her pride,” Mr. Cook later explained to the media.
He installed washing and drying machines at the school and student attendance rose by 10%
Image credits: CBS News
Having recognized the problem, Mr. Cook approached it by going straight to the root. He applied for a $20,000 grant for the appliances – five washing machines and five dryers – from the MCJ Amelior Foundation. The school was provided with the necessary funds and the football locker room was converted into a laundry room where kids could come in and have their clothes washed. But the initiative didn’t end there – while the students wait for their laundry, in an adjacent room called the Makerspace, a teacher is assigned before and after school to work with students on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) projects and explore their academic interests.
Cook has led other initiatives to address other grave issues in his school
Image credits: catresa.mcghee
However, some deep-rooted problems exist in the Newark community, that are much more alarming than bullying – and the principal is driven to tackle them as well. Back in 2014, according to Akbar, every summer two or three of his students would get killed due to gun violence in the streets. He recalls a heartbreaking moment when one of his students was found in a trash can, just behind the school building. “I needed to find a way to save them,” Akbar told the media last year.
The principal introduced the Lights Out program which focuses on keeping youth out of the streets
Image credits: wscampus
Affected by the loss of so many young lives, Akbar introduced the Lights On program. It is intended to create a safe space for kids so that they won’t have to spend time on the streets and turn towards negative influences. The inspiration for the concept came from Akbar’s childhood, when he was always at the West Side Boys and Girls Club. Akbar figured the gym in the school could be their own version of a community haven. During the school year, the doors are open for everyone on Fridays from 6pm to 11pm. During the summer, people are welcomed on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, from 6pm to 11pm. The community members can play basketball, ping-pong, board games, X-box or PlayStaytion games, dance, learn to sew, design, do make-up and many more activities. The students also get free hot meals, so they don’t go home with empty stomachs. Thanks to donations from the community and alumni, the program has been able to thrive year after year.
The educator appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show twice where he received huge donations
Image credits: Akbar Cook
Due to the exposure on various social media platforms, the programs introduced by Principal Cook have been recognized all across the country and now many other schools are implementing his initiatives as well. This week he piloted a program called Cook Educational Solutions which is intended to help out schools in other communities to tackle the problems of bullying, poor attendance and the absence of after-school activities. Akbar Cook was also invited by Ellen Degeneres twice now to share his story and help to spread awareness about the real situation in some urban schools. The last time he went, he received a $50,000 donation to further carry out and develop his projects.
People on the internet have praised Akbar for his ingenious programs to deal with these serious problems
In case you’re interested in chipping in for Principal Cook and his initiatives or even volunteering for the Lights On program, you can find all the necessary information by following this link.
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Share on FacebookBrilliant thinking on his part. There are so many issues people (especially kids) face that we don't even think about. I applaud him for seeing the problem and managing to do something! Keep up the good work!
"He recalls a heartbreaking moment when one of his students was found in a trash can, just behind the school building" My g-d, I cannot imagine how painful and sad that must have been. He is a wonderful, awesome person for trying to better the lives of those children and their families! I wish them all the very best!
yeah, I was already tearing up, but that one broke me.
Load More Replies...I wonder if he was poor as a child and understood from experience the best ways to help his students? The world needs more compassionate and understanding people like him
The sad part is that most people have to actually experience something before they can be sympathetic. If you actually lived it, you become empathetic, but usually only in those areas. People still tend to be judgemental a******s in all other areas and don't notice the pattern.
Load More Replies...What a wonderful man. My mother is a college teacher who teaches those interested in going into education, and a big part of her job is taking her students to schools in low income neighborhoods. More often than not the teachers and faculty don't care about the well being of the children, it's really refreshing to see a school that wants their students to feel safe and cared for.
It may take one wise , thoughtful teacher to begin wonderful ideas to start others to follow his lead, bless you sir, may you have many , many years of helping students, and seeing dreams come true !!!
People say it takes money for these programs..it really doesn't. It takes resourceful staff and people with ambition to accomplish this. Many people are unaware that most businesses are still able to take tax deductions for donations. A savvy staff member needs to merely approach these businesses and ask for help. In the city where I grew up and even in the small town where my son grew up, people are willing to help if they know that the help will be well accepted. What better way to help than building the self esteem of youth and keeping them on the path of a good education?
when I lived in Los Angeles I worked for an "arts incubator". We used grant money to provide programs to teach kids critical thinking through art. We were in a big warehouse and had a ceramics studio, a mosaic studio, a candlemaking studio, a small theater, and a gallery. I was always approaching local businesses to donate equipment and other things for the programs. Most people don't realize that big businesses get write-offs for donating to non-profits, but they usually are most interested in programs that work with kids.
Load More Replies...Isn't it amazing how an intelligent, workable solution so often escapes our leaders. Here in Australia, the media are always bemoaning the incarceration rates of indigenous Australians, usually blaming them for the problem. One police officer in western New South wales noticed that the most often cause of the incarceration of indigenous teenagers was driving without a licence. That wise officer simple helped the teens get their licence - problem solved
Man meanwhile while sure my high school was... better off? Best way of saying it guess but its status aside principal was a c**t and school offered random s**t like a p courses and stuff to look nice on paper. Reading stuff like this disgusts me cause it shows how few f***s most give and how disgustingly pathetic the school budget is that donations have to keep such programs afloat... Delete all the American football teams for better spending. Get better food. Teach mechanics and life skill course (eg cooking, sewing). Ffs even as a veteran I say this less money on military, on lining pockets, on the useless fbi, on the money eating super carriers and other dumb f*****g s**t. What good is paying taxes if schools suffer, if roads are poorly maintained, if libraries aren't better nationwide and so on...
"the Lights On program. It is intended to create a safe space for kids". Hey SJW's: THIS is what a safe space is. It's a place you won't get shot, not a space where your phantom microaggression won't be manifested. This principle is awesome. These types of people should be on the news every day, not political bickering that really doesn't matter.
I don't think you really understand the concept of safe space, but since you don't seem very smart, I'm not going to hold it against you
Load More Replies...Good job at funding your schools, America. Because you clearly don't value education, you VOTED FOR the worst president humanly imaginable. Too bad it's f*****g up the rest of the world and not just your own POS country. There's a reason America is nowhere near the top of ANY performance list when it comes to education. You're generally a very, very, very stupid people. Are you happy that you're "owning the libs" by making your population increasingly dumb? Congrats.
Mr Cook if you see or hear about this, please make your charity public on Social media. Wanted to link campaign to story and it's not available. Would love to help.
Its a nice story, but although it is partly heart-warming, I feel more depressed about the fact that there are so many schools and young ppl facing such serious problems and adversity. As it says in one of the comments above, this is a sticking-plaster funded by charity, when it should be funded by government... Also, such an issue shouldn't even exist in the first place.
I'm just wondering why it cost $20,000 for five washers and five dryers, that is extortionate.but yeah lovely thing to do. He is the funkiest looking headteacher i ever saw.
You're looking at Speed Queen laundry equipment, some of the toughest and longest lasting equipment money can buy. I think those are TR3's which retail for about $1800/pair. $9,000 for the equipment, plus labor for the installation of all the water supply piping, drain piping, gas piping, electrical, vents, permits, etc. could easily run $11,000. There's your $20k.
Load More Replies...People will do anything but punish the damn bullies and make them stop.
Although an inspiring story, this is about applying band-aids here and there on a broken society. The US has 5% of the world population and it has over 20% of the world's prisoners; it has a number of the best universities in the world and children who skip school because their clothes are dirty, i.e. because of poverty. "Clean coal" and climate change deniers in charge of the environment... Weird country.
Brilliant thinking on his part. There are so many issues people (especially kids) face that we don't even think about. I applaud him for seeing the problem and managing to do something! Keep up the good work!
"He recalls a heartbreaking moment when one of his students was found in a trash can, just behind the school building" My g-d, I cannot imagine how painful and sad that must have been. He is a wonderful, awesome person for trying to better the lives of those children and their families! I wish them all the very best!
yeah, I was already tearing up, but that one broke me.
Load More Replies...I wonder if he was poor as a child and understood from experience the best ways to help his students? The world needs more compassionate and understanding people like him
The sad part is that most people have to actually experience something before they can be sympathetic. If you actually lived it, you become empathetic, but usually only in those areas. People still tend to be judgemental a******s in all other areas and don't notice the pattern.
Load More Replies...What a wonderful man. My mother is a college teacher who teaches those interested in going into education, and a big part of her job is taking her students to schools in low income neighborhoods. More often than not the teachers and faculty don't care about the well being of the children, it's really refreshing to see a school that wants their students to feel safe and cared for.
It may take one wise , thoughtful teacher to begin wonderful ideas to start others to follow his lead, bless you sir, may you have many , many years of helping students, and seeing dreams come true !!!
People say it takes money for these programs..it really doesn't. It takes resourceful staff and people with ambition to accomplish this. Many people are unaware that most businesses are still able to take tax deductions for donations. A savvy staff member needs to merely approach these businesses and ask for help. In the city where I grew up and even in the small town where my son grew up, people are willing to help if they know that the help will be well accepted. What better way to help than building the self esteem of youth and keeping them on the path of a good education?
when I lived in Los Angeles I worked for an "arts incubator". We used grant money to provide programs to teach kids critical thinking through art. We were in a big warehouse and had a ceramics studio, a mosaic studio, a candlemaking studio, a small theater, and a gallery. I was always approaching local businesses to donate equipment and other things for the programs. Most people don't realize that big businesses get write-offs for donating to non-profits, but they usually are most interested in programs that work with kids.
Load More Replies...Isn't it amazing how an intelligent, workable solution so often escapes our leaders. Here in Australia, the media are always bemoaning the incarceration rates of indigenous Australians, usually blaming them for the problem. One police officer in western New South wales noticed that the most often cause of the incarceration of indigenous teenagers was driving without a licence. That wise officer simple helped the teens get their licence - problem solved
Man meanwhile while sure my high school was... better off? Best way of saying it guess but its status aside principal was a c**t and school offered random s**t like a p courses and stuff to look nice on paper. Reading stuff like this disgusts me cause it shows how few f***s most give and how disgustingly pathetic the school budget is that donations have to keep such programs afloat... Delete all the American football teams for better spending. Get better food. Teach mechanics and life skill course (eg cooking, sewing). Ffs even as a veteran I say this less money on military, on lining pockets, on the useless fbi, on the money eating super carriers and other dumb f*****g s**t. What good is paying taxes if schools suffer, if roads are poorly maintained, if libraries aren't better nationwide and so on...
"the Lights On program. It is intended to create a safe space for kids". Hey SJW's: THIS is what a safe space is. It's a place you won't get shot, not a space where your phantom microaggression won't be manifested. This principle is awesome. These types of people should be on the news every day, not political bickering that really doesn't matter.
I don't think you really understand the concept of safe space, but since you don't seem very smart, I'm not going to hold it against you
Load More Replies...Good job at funding your schools, America. Because you clearly don't value education, you VOTED FOR the worst president humanly imaginable. Too bad it's f*****g up the rest of the world and not just your own POS country. There's a reason America is nowhere near the top of ANY performance list when it comes to education. You're generally a very, very, very stupid people. Are you happy that you're "owning the libs" by making your population increasingly dumb? Congrats.
Mr Cook if you see or hear about this, please make your charity public on Social media. Wanted to link campaign to story and it's not available. Would love to help.
Its a nice story, but although it is partly heart-warming, I feel more depressed about the fact that there are so many schools and young ppl facing such serious problems and adversity. As it says in one of the comments above, this is a sticking-plaster funded by charity, when it should be funded by government... Also, such an issue shouldn't even exist in the first place.
I'm just wondering why it cost $20,000 for five washers and five dryers, that is extortionate.but yeah lovely thing to do. He is the funkiest looking headteacher i ever saw.
You're looking at Speed Queen laundry equipment, some of the toughest and longest lasting equipment money can buy. I think those are TR3's which retail for about $1800/pair. $9,000 for the equipment, plus labor for the installation of all the water supply piping, drain piping, gas piping, electrical, vents, permits, etc. could easily run $11,000. There's your $20k.
Load More Replies...People will do anything but punish the damn bullies and make them stop.
Although an inspiring story, this is about applying band-aids here and there on a broken society. The US has 5% of the world population and it has over 20% of the world's prisoners; it has a number of the best universities in the world and children who skip school because their clothes are dirty, i.e. because of poverty. "Clean coal" and climate change deniers in charge of the environment... Weird country.
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