Jacob was fed up. The fourth grader couldn’t keep it to himself anymore. The toilet paper at Cottonwood Elementary was no good, and he wanted change.
So he penned a letter on behalf of his fellow students to the leadership of Granite School District, demanding better than the rough, single ply paper provided to his school.
“First, the toilet paper feels like sandpaper, and I think most kids avoid going to the bathroom (including me) for that reason,” Jacob wrote in the note shared on Facebook. “Also, the paper is so thin it breaks so you have poop in your fingernails.”
At the very least, the district should allow students to bring their own tissue to school, he wrote, “if you don’t want to spend your money on kids (sic) bums.”
The letter reached the desk of Jared Gardner, the district’s director of the Purchasing and Warehouse Department, who discussed the matter with Jacob’s principal and teacher before responding to his low-ply plight with a letter of his own on March 22.
(Granite School District) Jacob celebrates receiving a roll of two-ply toilet paper with his class on March 22, 2022.
The district doesn’t have a policy prohibiting students from bringing their own toilet paper to school, Gardner said, but he warned against bringing flushable baby wipes because they “clog sewer pipes, which is a messy and stinky problem for our custodians.”
Instead, he offered a different solution.
Schools in the district, like many public restrooms, are outfitted with industrial toilet paper dispensers that can’t hold softer toilet papers one might find in a grocery store, Gardner explained in a post from Granite School District. He did, however, have an alternative for the breakage problem that Jacob wrote about. The district warehouse stores two-ply TP for schools. His principal, Teri Cooper, can order it through the school’s head custodian.
One of his classmates whispered “No way!” as Jacob read the letter aloud to the class, which was accompanied by a peace offering from Gardner — a roll of two ply.
Jacob smiled wide as a district aide pulled the roll from a box. He thrust it into the air like it was a trophy to the cheers of his teacher and fellow students.
