Some students didn't skip school because they didn't want to study. They stayed at home because they were ashamed of their dirty clothes.
On the West Side High School in Newark, New Jersey, Principal Akbar Cook discovered that behind some absences there was a very concrete problem.
Several guys had no easy access to a washing machine at home.
Presenting at school with dirty clothes meant exposing himself to the tricks of other students. For some, the embarrassment and fear of being derided had become so strong that they could not even enter the classroom.
Cook decided to intervene on the root problem.
He gained $20,000 funding from PSE&G and turned the old football club locker into a free laundry inside the school.
With the support of the Newark Public Schools five washing machines and five dryers were installed.
In various parts of the country, donations of detergent arrived.
Students could use the service free of charge after classes, from 15 to 18.
It seemed a small solution to the big problems a school could face.
But it worked.
Cook told ABC 7 that, after the opening of the laundry, the school attendance increased by 10%.
Guys who used to stay at home for fear of being judged finally had a place to wash their clothes without having to think about the cost.
The initiative then drew national attention.
Cook was invited twice to the program of Ellen DeGeneres to tell the project and, during the second appearance, Cheerios donated another $50,000.
But the value of that laundry was not measured only in the installed machines or in the collected money.
He had eliminated an invisible obstacle.
Because sometimes a guy doesn't need a big promise to go back to school.
He simply needs to know that he can enter without shame.