https://www.npr.org/2023/03/02/1160358099/school-attendance-chronic-absenteeism-covid
Yet another "it's a mystery!" article. This one from the formerly reliable news source of NPR with such gems as:
"I think people have been a little bit under the false impression that when COVID became more endemic, that that would then result in a significant improvement in attendance. And I'm not seeing that."
and
"...Carlson says his district's Native families don't generally think of school as a safe place.
"It's really difficult to get those families to say, 'Yeah, sure, we'd love to send our kids back to school.' "
The solution? Not making schools more safe, of course. That would be too straightforward.
"Money is not an issue ... The entire nation is currently flooded with federal [COVID] assistance money."
"Home visits are one proven strategy schools are investing in."
or
"His district has also hired more attendance counselors and "community navigators" to help caregivers tap into district resources"
or even
"Chang says another way to improve attendance is to gather regular, transparent data throughout the school-year, rather than only once, at the end of the year."
because, clearly, collecting attendance data will solve the problem.
These people really don't get it and I've lost hope that they ever will.
You are, of course, correct that a lot of it revolves around CYA at this point.
The one that really got me was the "our parents don't think the schools are safe, but, while we have a boatload of money earmarked for making it safer, we're not going to do that."
@BE Most people have every incentive not to get it, having made decisions based on cult-capitalist bullshit, having gaslit objectors into conformity to the same delusions, and having endangered everyone in their communities. Admitting that it's dangerous and disabling is admitting that we've been maiming and killing each other for three years in the name of the ephemeral "normal." Once you glance under the economy's hood, you see it's similarly ephemeral, and doesn't justify this auto-homicide.