Schools are traditionally measured by academic outcomes.
Test scores.
Graduation rates.
Attendance.
College acceptance.
Those measures matter.
But Cook's experience highlighted something educators regularly encounter: students do not leave the problems of their homes and neighborhoods outside when they walk through the school doors.
Hunger can affect concentration.
Housing instability can affect attendance.
Transportation problems can make arriving on time difficult.
And lacking access to clean clothes can influence whether a teenager feels comfortable enough to enter the building at all.
Cook recognized that academic expectations could not be completely separated from those basic needs.
Years later, he explained the philosophy behind the laundry project to CBS News.
Everyone wants students to achieve high test scores and perform well academically, he said, but those expectations become much harder to meet when a student lacks the confidence simply to show up at school.
The washing machines were therefore not really about laundry alone.
They were about removing one barrier standing between students and their education.
Source: CBS News interviewed Cook in March 2019 about the laundry program and his emphasis on addressing students' basic needs alongside academic expectations.
A $20,000 Idea
Cook began searching for a practical solution.
Eventually, he secured approximately $20,000 in funding from the PSEG Foundation.
Newark Public Schools provided labor to help transform part of the school into a working laundry facility.
The location chosen was an old football-team locker room.
Instead of leaving it as unused space, the school converted it into something students could use every week.
The finished facility contained five commercial-grade washing machines and five dryers.
There was also a utility sink.
Students would not need to pay to use the equipment.
And they would not need to bring their own detergent.
As publicity surrounding the program grew, donations of laundry products began arriving.
CBS reported that the school accumulated closets full of donated detergent and other supplies.
The result was essentially a small, free laundromat located inside a public high school.
Sources: The Washington Post reported that the PSEG Foundation provided the $20,000 grant and that the school installed five washers and five dryers. CBS New York separately reported on the grant, assistance from Newark Public Schools and donations of laundry supplies.
Laundry After School
The program was structured so students could use the machines after classes.
Reports from 2018 described operating hours from approximately 3 p.m. until 6 p.m., with adult supervision available.
That mattered for several reasons.
First, it gave students access to washing machines without requiring their families to pay laundromat fees.
Second, students could take care of their clothes in a familiar environment.
Third, making the service available through the school helped normalize it.
Students did not have to solve the problem alone.