In Washington County, Maryland, the proportion of students in public schools who were chronically absent rose to about 38% in the first semester of the year. This is more than twice the equivalent period before the pandemic.
According to Jeremy Jacoby, director of student services at the school district, absenteeism appears to have been partially caused by student depression and anxiety, with cases proliferating during the pandemic and now providing overwhelming medical care. Has become a person.
“Children aren’t as many as they used to be,” said Leilani Champo, 14, a first-year high school student in Washington County. According to her, some students work during the day, while others are out of the habit of coming to class after months of online learning.
“And some of them get Covid,” she added.
That happened to Leilani, who was absent more than 20 times a year as a freshman, mainly because of quarantine. She missed a fun experiment in the chemistry lab — her classmates later told her she saw the compound ignite and create a flame with a fantastic color — and her English class said, ” She wasn’t there when she passed through Romeo and Juliet.
Leilani, isolated in the bedroom and getting class notes online, encounters Shakespeare’s tragedy. Currently, she is struggling to raise her score in time to pass English this year. “I’m really worried about that,” she said.
Student anxiety is exacerbated only by financial pressure, said Emily Jones, a PPW in Washington County. “Many families I work with, it’s all hands-on-deck,” she said. “You have children working the moment you get a work permit.”