Chronic absenteeism soared during the pandemic. Here's why Arizona students still aren't going to school
Excerpt from the Arizona Republic on March 21, 2023
Kya Matson had a hard time getting to school last year.
The third-grader was sick a few times with the flu or a cold, but issues with some friends also made her not want to go.
So her mother, Krystale Matson, let Kya stay home.
"I believe in mental health days," Matson said. "But the days add up faster than you realize."
Kya ended up missing 23 days of school last year. That put her above the threshold of being deemed chronically absent, defined as missing 10%, or 18 days, of the 180-day school year.
Things were not going much better this year. Now in fourth grade at Desert Star School in Goodyear, 10-year-old Kya has already missed 16 days of school, putting her at risk of being deemed chronically absent for the second academic year in a row.
Matson believes a big part of why Kya didn't want to go to school is because she had become accustomed to staying home during the COVID-19 pandemic.