IN THE PROFESSION
PHOTO CREDIT : PEXELS
A Rebuilding Year : Post-pandemic
______________________________________________________________
The Atlanta Bar ’ s alliance with Truancy Intervention Project ' s work of returning children to regular school attendance is just beginning .
SARAH BABCOCK Truancy Intervention Project sbabcock @ truancyproject . org
DANIELLE SIMPSON Truancy Intervention Project dsimpson @ truancyproject . org
Atenth-grader liked school before the pandemic but now would rather play video games all day . A fifth- grader fights with her mom about getting on the bus every morning because she is scared of getting sick from everyone ' s germs . A seventhgrader wants to go to school , but his father is so depressed after the loss of a family member to COVID-19 that he struggles to get everyone up and out of the house each morning .
The lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are being felt not only in expected places such as healthcare facilities and workplaces but also in households and schools . Among the many casualties of the pandemic are the habits and practices needed to support regular school attendance . Nationwide , rates of school absence for the 2021-2022 school year are expected to be higher than they were during the 2020-2021 school year when more students were impacted by school closures and virtual learning . Based on the number of calls the Truancy Intervention Project ( TIP ) has received from across the state over the past year , Georgia communities are also experiencing a school attendance crisis .
TIP has been working to respond to this
16 December 2022 / January 2023