10 CMS schools lacked soap in bathrooms to fight coronavirus. Teachers are worried.

When the number of coronavirus cases in North Carolina started to rise this month, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools assured the public that schools were encouraging handwashing and taking extra steps to halt the threat to students, teachers and others.

But a report shows that soap dispensers were broken or empty in bathrooms at 10 schools, raising the possibility students did not have easy access to soap that could have protected them from COVID-19, the illness caused by the new strain of the coronavirus.

“Those are valid concerns,” said Daniel Janies, a professor of bioinformatics at UNC Charlotte. “On a normal day, you should have those supplies.”

Health experts say washing hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom, eating or coughing and sneezing, is one of the best ways to slow the spread of the virus. The respiratory infection is commonly transmitted through direct contact.

Gov. Roy Cooper on Saturday ordered schools statewide closed until at least March 30 after a teacher in Wake County tested positive for COVID-19. Officials in other states and cities around the country have also closed schools.

Children do not appear to be at high risk of dying from the virus, Janies said, but there is the possibility they could contract it on school campuses and spread it to family and others.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board Chair Elyse Dashew said she did not have enough information about the empty and broken soap dispensers to determine if the health of students, teachers and other staffers had been compromised.

Board members had been assured by school administrators that the district had an adequate supply of soaps and hand towels, Dashew said.

Dashew acknowledged that the district has a shortage of janitors who would be responsible for maintaining the bathrooms. The district has vacant positions, leaving janitors responsible for an average of about 39,000 square feet of space in school buildings, she said.

“This crisis is lifting up that we need more janitors,” Dashew said. “With students and teachers doing more handwashing, they were having a hard time keeping up.”

Judy Kidd-Henion, president of the Classroom Teachers Association of North Carolina, said the district’s failure to keep bathrooms stocked with soap and hand towels was more severe and widespread than CMS has acknowledged.

Kidd-Henion said she recently contacted 15 teachers from across the district, and they all reported that school bathrooms with no soap and hand towels and, in some cases, no toilet paper.

CMS asked teachers to clean classrooms to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but teachers and parents had to pay themselves for supplies such as disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer and tissues, she said.

“Teachers are so upset,” Kidd-Henion said. “They are asking ‘Why did everyone have to endanger themselves?’”

Survey results

Mecklenburg County had seven cases of novel coronavirus as of Monday afternoon, and the county’s public health director said officials are investigating 259 cases of people who had been tested by the county or private clinicians.

Officials have released scant demographic information about people who have contracted the virus such as their names, ages, city of residence or occupations.

In response to the global pandemic, CMS canceled all field trips and all competitions and school-based performance.

Officials also said they were working to ensure students had adequate access to cleaning supplies.

“As students wash their hands more often, we will continue to restock soap supplies to ensure student safety,” the district said in March 7 public statement.

But a recent survey conducted by the head custodian at 120 schools, found 10 schools where soap dispensers that were empty or broken. In some cases, officials said, students had removed soap bags from the dispenser and stuffed them into toilets.

Dashew released the survey results after receiving questions from the Observer. The results do not specify the names of the schools where soap dispensers were empty or broken.

Dashew said the report was reviewed by Carol Stamper, the district’s deputy superintendent for operations. Stamper did not respond to attempts to reach her for comment.

Kidd-Henion, the teacher association president, said it is common across CMS for school bathrooms to lack soap, hand towels and toilet paper.

This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 1:00 AM.