.....Each community has its own set of circumstances that have conspired to sabotage young people's dreams during and after COVID-19. In Los Angeles and much of California, housing insecurity has devastated children and teens’ chances at recovery like nothing else.

“Housing is the biggest reason kids aren’t going to school or we can’t find them,” says Elmer Roldan, executive director of Communities in Schools of Los Angeles, an organization that helps dozens of Los Angeles Unified schools follow up with students who are chronically absent.

Last year, two in five Los Angeles Unified School District students missed more than 10% of the school year, according to data supplied by the district.

There's more. By April, the district had lost track of more than 2,500 students — kids who quietly stopped attending school and never appeared to enroll elsewhere, according to preliminary data posted on the district website.....

.....Studies show students who take on parental roles have struggled to stay in school. Family responsibilities or financial obligations have caused 35% of student dropouts since the pandemic, according to a January report from Communities in Schools and MDRC, a think tank focused on poverty and education.....

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