Natural Disasters And Missing So Much School

Parent-Child-Interaction-Therapy-Los-Altos

It’s no secret that we’ve had a rough fall and winter with natural disasters. Even as we write this, fires burn in Southern California, adding to the previous wildfires in the northern part of the state that burned over 245,000 acres in October.

Hurricanes Irma and Harvey devastated communities across Florida and Texas, while touching communities in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, the Carolinas and Louisiana.

The U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico were devastated by back-to-back hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Amidst the trauma and destruction, school districts across the U.S. have shouldered a heavy burden: trying to help their students catch up after missing days, weeks and even months of class time.

Across nine states, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, at least 9 million students missed some amount of school this fall due to a natural disaster, according to an NPR Ed analysis. The analysis compiled missed days from individual public school districts affected by natural disasters as well as estimates given by state education departments. To read more from HALEY SAMSEL and ELISSA NADWORNY, click here.