Beloit School District staff and students pose with the new Loads2Success posters. A student-run laundry service will be offered at Beloit Memorial High School and Beloit Learning Academy.
Beloit School District students and staff walk in a parade with new Loads2Success posters in hand. A student run laundry service will be offered at Beloit Memorial High School and Beloit Learning Academy.
Beloit School District staff and students pose with the new Loads2Success posters. A student-run laundry service will be offered at Beloit Memorial High School and Beloit Learning Academy.
Photo provided
Beloit School District students and staff walk in a parade with new Loads2Success posters in hand. A student run laundry service will be offered at Beloit Memorial High School and Beloit Learning Academy.
BELOIT—Beloit School District is bringing back a laundry service for students called Loads2Success this November and students from the Special Education program will be performing the service.
The free laundry service program originally started in 2017, but was put on pause during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021. Melissa Beavers, executive director of pupil services at the district, said they are rebranding the service Nov. 9. The program will be at two locations: Beloit Memorial High School and Beloit Learning Academy.
“Anybody in the district that’s a student can use the program,” said Regina McAlister, Special Education program manager for Alternative Education and Transitions at the district. “They’ll be using a confidential system that we have set up. They can drop their laundry. We anticipate a 72-hour turnaround time to get the laundry back to them. We anticipate being open for families to use it as well.”
Beavers said a specific group of students with disabilities will be doing the laundry so they’re working to build more work experience. It may potentially turn into a paying job for the students at some point, but it also teaches the students independence and responsibility.
“It removes a barrier so students can feel confident walking into school with fresh, laundered clothes,” Beavers said.
Students who want to use the service can sign up using a Google form and receive communication on the status of their laundry, Beavers said. Students will receive a text message on when their laundry is ready to be picked up. Beavers adds that the system is like the Domino’s order tracking system, with a laugh.
“We figured we should do something more technologically advanced now and an easy way for them to keep up with when it’s time to pick up their laundry,” Beavers said. “And it’s anonymous there. So, there’s no stigma attached to you, you just need to bring your laundry.”
McAlister adds that the service will be offered four days a week, Monday through Thursday. The service won’t accept laundry on Friday, that will be a delivery day for students who pick up their laundry.
“Previously, we had a lot of high school students that use it,” McAlister said. “We also provide a service to some of our student athletes and wash the towels and laundry for them as well. We anticipate that there will be a large partaking in the services because we have so many students that are back in the district full time now.”
McAlister said they will be starting to train the students in the special needs program on how to do the laundry service in the next couple weeks and will start with 20 weeks in the program.
“What we’re trying to do is get our students ready to be independent and be able to look for opportunities, apply for jobs, and be productive in a community if they decide I don’t want to go to college but I really want to find a job and I want to provide them some skills in order to go out and find a job,” McAlister said.
Beavers said they anticipate opening the laundry service to district families in the second semester of the 2022-23 school year.
