Education
Education

Clean bathroom advocate to visit DeKalb County schools

By Ty Tagami
Jan 16, 2015

The executive director of the German Toilet Organization will visit the DeKalb County School District Tuesday through Friday, engaging in activities at two schools.

Thilo Panzerbieter will speak to students in health and engineering classes at Arabia Mountain High School on Tuesday, and that night, at 7 p.m., will be guest host as the school debate team argues whether air dryers should replace paper towel dispensers in restrooms.

On Wednesday, Panzerbieter will talk with students at Clarkston High about his experiences with school restroom issues in Berlin, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Zambia and Sri Lanka. The German organization is part of a global movement to address "the silence surrounding the sanitation crisis," according to the website of the World Toilet Organization. Panzerbieter is coming at the invitation of Tom Keating, a former Decatur school board member who founded Project CLEAN, which advocates for cleaner school restrooms.

About the Author

Ty Tagami is a staff writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since joining the newspaper in 2002, he has written about everything from hurricanes to homelessness. He has deep experience covering local government and education, and can often be found under the Gold Dome when lawmakers meet or in a school somewhere in the state.

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