Ever since the pandemic first kicked off back in 2020, a growing number of students have been ditching school. This is likely due to the conditions allowing them to do so with ease, seeing as online classes are practically a joke.
However, we’re only now finding out that over 10,000 students in Washington have seemingly vanished off the face of the earth or at least from the education system.
Thousands of students unaccounted for after COVID-19 pandemic
Every single one of these kids abandoned school at some point during the pandemic, but due to management taking a hit at the time, there’s no record of where they’ve gone since then.
Hundreds of thousands of students have disappeared from U.S. public school rolls since the pandemic began.
“Missing” students received crisis-level attention in 2020 after the pandemic closed schools. In the years since, that attention has waned. https://t.co/StEuYu0p5N pic.twitter.com/NUMx0CG8B7
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 9, 2023
Because of this, schools don’t even know if any of the students turned to home-schooling or if they’ve abandoned their education entirely.
A report by the Associated Press shows Washington has the sixth highest percentage of missing students in the country, which may be tied to the state’s declining public enrollment.
This has been going on for a while now. Experts believe it’s due to the growing popularity of home-schooling, which isn’t too different from what the schools provided during the pandemic.
In fact, private school enrollment also increased recently, most notably at the kindergarten and first-grade levels; although thoroughly examining the latest developments will take some time.
The Superintendent of Public Instruction’s office spokesperson, Katy Payne, stated they’re fully aware of the students who left the US education system and they’re putting a lot of effort into bringing them back.
Hundreds of thousands of students dropped off public school rolls since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. An @AP and @BigLocalNews analysis found an estimated 240,000 students in 21 states whose absences could not be accounted for. https://t.co/CUWyMQK4EO pic.twitter.com/EJkRnuYSam
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 9, 2023
A growing issue we’ll forget very soon
Nationwide, however, the issue is no laughing matter. In the three years since the pandemic started, some are estimating that 240,000 children are either truant or unreported homeschoolers.
Public school enrollment fell by 1.2 million in a one-year period between 2020 and 2021.
However, the urgency to find these missing students settled down, compared to the start of the pandemic when school staff was going door to door to reengage these children with education.
With all this talk about declining enrollment, one would imagine the schools are doing something to stop it or at least figure out why it’s happening, but that’s never the case.
Democrat-sponsored school lockdowns have done generational damage to America's kids.
AP and Standard did an analysis of school enrollment in 21 states and D.C. over COVID. Enrollment fell by 710,000 students.
Of those, 240,000 are MISSING – 210,000 of those from just NY and CA. pic.twitter.com/49PP4WRJR3
— Tommy Pigott (@TommyPigott) February 9, 2023
The missing children are more than just a number that we’ll forget by the end of the year, though. They represent a portion of an entire generation of students who missed out on basic reading and other skills they’ll need later on.
We’re not talking about 240,000 students who are missing; we’re talking about children whose education matters to so many people and who simply need help with reentering the education system.
Unfortunately, the issue is being swept under the rug as we speak. It’s bound to fade out of popularity sooner or later, leaving hundreds of thousands of young, capable minds without the guidance to help them grow and develop.
This article appeared in The Record Daily and has been published here with permission.
