Opinion | Make parents pay for kids who miss school to curb chronic school absenteeism – By Howard Husock (New York Post) / May 4, 2024
The COVID pandemic has ebbed, but one of its most damaging long-term effects has not.
Chronic school absenteeism — collateral damage from students accustomed to staying home for alleged online learning — persists across the country.
In New York City, a stunning four in 10 students — some 353,000 — were chronically absent, for the last full school year (2021-22). The national figure is 22%.
It’s hardly a way to combat the learning loss of school lockdowns, which, per the National Assessment of Educational Progress, set back math and reading proficiency by two decades, especially for low-income students.
