As the school year continues to progress, Arrowhead staff are experiencing shortages for supplies they need most due to cargo ships being stuck at ports in California and South Carolina. This makes it impossible for semi trucks to transport supplies to stores that can then go to schools. 

Arrowhead recently experienced a shortage of Kleenex, a brand of tissues, and are trying to limit supplies with the students and staff using Kleenex daily. 

Staff and students have been adjusting to the current situation and trying to improvise if there is no Kleenex in their classroom. 

Cassidy Roche, a senior at Arrowhead and Vice President of DECA and Student Senate, said, “I heard about it on Tuesday. Honestly, it was kind of funny at first, but seeing that more people will be getting sick with winter quickly approaching this is concerning.”

Students and teachers are taking into consideration their options. 

Grace Bielski, a choir teacher at Arrowhead, said, “I end up sending students to the bathroom since we run through Kleenex so quickly.” 

Bielski also said she doesn’t have an additional supply of Kleenex in the room for students to use. 

Arrowhead’s supply of Kleenex is running low, but not completely out yet and the custodial staff at Arrowhead are trying to make sure that Arrowhead doesn’t run out by minimizing the amount of Kleenex boxes teachers take at once.

In an email to all staff, Kristi Torrez, the Supervisor of Custodial Operations, said, “So, our latest shortage is Kleenex. We would like to ask that you request only one box when asking for replenishing your rooms, as well as ‘try’, and I know it’s difficult to do, but use them a little more sparingly.”

Since more than one person could need a Kleenex at the same time, it isn’t easy to use them sparingly.

Becky Gordon, the North Campus associate principal, said, “I believe it’s the same issue as the toner which is due to cargo ships backed up on the West Coast….”

Arrowhead’s shortage Gordon refers to was written about in an The Arrowhead article titled “Arrowhead faces the effects of shipment backup on the California coast” where Lucy Duchac and Autumn Treml share how Arrowhead also had a toner shortage with the cargo boats not being able to get into the California harbors.

According to Torrez, Arrowhead along with every store in the nation is running low on many types of paper products. Kleenex has been a recent problem for Arrowhead with it being cold and flu season along with fall allergies coming in. 

Roche said, “This also got me thinking about all the supply chain issues going on in the world, which will wreak havoc during the holidays for a multitude of reasons and bleed on throughout the pandemic.”

This is especially important with the cold and flu seasons going on. A cold or flu can spread very quickly in schools with students and teachers in close proximity with each other. 

Torrez said, “I’m not sure if staff [are] using my suggestion on trying to use the tissue a little more sparingly, because really, that is hard to do.” Torrez said that she hopes to continue to keep Arrowhead stocked with what students and staff need.

No one can know what is happening in the classrooms with the limited supplies besides the students and teachers. The custodial staff are trying to keep stock of things that will be needed going into the colder months.

Roche said, “People will be making many trips to the bathrooms to get paper towels to stop runny noses or will have to come to school prepared with their own stash of Kleenex.”