A principal in New Jersey installed a laundromat at his high school to keep students forced to wear dirty clothes from being bullied when the new term starts on Sept. 4, CNN reported.
Bullying was a common problem at West Side High School in Newark where many of the students face humiliation because they don’t have anything clean to wear because their families often can’t afford or don’t have access to laundry facilities.
Recently, one girl caused a massive scene when she refused to let a security guard check her bag because she had stashed her dirty clothes in it and was embarrassed to let anyone see.
The issue extends into the classrooms as well, with 15-year-old Nasirr Cameron telling WCBS that there have been occasions when students in the class passed remarks “about one of the people in front of the class and how they smelled and how their clothes looked dirty.”
Some students have gone as far as to snap photos of their peers’ dirty clothes and post them to social media.
School principal Akbar Cook noticed what was going and realized that the bullying could be why 85 percent of his students were missing school on a regular basis.
"These are kids, good kids who want to learn, that are missing three to five days a month because they were being bullied because they were dirty," Cook explained to CNN.
He tried to address the issue first by changing the school uniform to a darker color so that dirt would not show up as quickly but his attempts were futile.
So, he decided to be take a more direct approach and, through a $20,000 grant from PSE&G, was able to turn an old football locker room into a school laundromat.
Ten washers and dryers were installed and through the school’s Amazon wish list, it has been able to collect detergent through donations.
“I think it’s a good way to give people confidence that there is someone who actually cares about them and is willing to help them out,” said incoming junior Nasier Summerville, 17, according to WPIX.
“We are trying to teach them to navigate their pride," Cook said, according to CNN. "My kids are fighters – they just need good ways to fight for themselves, and then take pride in what they can do.”
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.