She’d be a senior right now, preparing for graduation in a few months, probably leading her school’s modern dance troupe and taking art classes.
Instead, Kailani Taylor-Cribb hasn’t taken a single class in what used to be her high school since the height of the coronavirus pandemic. She vanished from Cambridge, Massachusetts’ public school roll in 2021 and has been, from an administrative standpoint, unaccounted for since then.
Kathy Kmonicek, Associated Press
Kailani Taylor-Cribb walks through her neighborhood on Jan. 31 in Asheville, N.C.
She is among hundreds of thousands of students around the country who disappeared from public schools during the pandemic and didn’t resume their studies elsewhere.
An analysis by The Associated Press, Stanford University’s Big Local News project and Stanford education professor Thomas Dee found an estimated 240,000 students in 21 states whose absences could not be accounted for. These students didn’t move out of state, and they didn’t sign up for private school or home-school, according to publicly available data.
In short, they’re missing.
“Missing” students received crisis-level attention in 2020 after the pandemic closed schools nationwide. In the years since, they have become largely a budgeting problem. School leaders and some state officials worried aloud about the fiscal challenges their districts faced if these students didn’t come back. Each student represents money from the city, state and federal governments.
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More colleges are making the SAT optional. Should high school students still take them?
Dmytro Zinkevych // Shutterstock
The disruption to education at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was widespread, affecting how and where students learned. The lasting result has left a serious impact on what they're learning too, according to standardized testing. Elementary students' test scores in mathematics and reading plummeted between 2020 and 2022. For older students, Advanced Placement exams and the SATs both were affected. Thousands of students had technical problems when they took an online, at-home version of the AP exams in May and June 2020. The College Board also dropped plans for an at-home choice for the SATs in 2020.
The AP program dates to 1955, established to ensure America's students did not fall behind those in the Soviet Union. The program offers college-level courses to high school students, typically capped by an exam. (A small number of courses do measure students' progress differently; for example, students studying art and design submits a portfolio.)
In all, 38 courses are given in the arts, English, history, math and computer science, the sciences, social sciences, world languages, and world cultures. College Board-administered exams are designed to measure a student's mastery of the material and are scored on a scale of 1 to 5. Most schools require a score of 3 or higher for a student to qualify for college credit or to be placed in a higher-level class.
EDsmart investigated how AP scores in 2021 compared to scores in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, for the 10 most popular tests using data from College Board.
As with nearly all AP tests in general, the number of students taking the exams on this list dropped after 2019 as the pandemic closed schools and forced virtual learning on a broader scale. The average score for most AP tests on this list also fell to just below 3. The steepest drop was in psychology, down more than 12% to 2.7. Two exceptions were average scores in human geography and English language, both of which rose. The percentage of students scoring a 3 or higher also fell, again with the same two exceptions. And here, psychology also recorded the largest decline, down more than 11%.
As for the SATs, the College Board paused the testing in 2020 in March, May, and June. Even when weekend testing resumed in August of the same year, many centers remained closed or limited their capacity for safety reasons.
Dmytro Zinkevych // Shutterstock
The disruption to education at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was widespread, affecting how and where students learned. The lasting result has left a serious impact on what they're learning too, according to standardized testing. Elementary students' test scores in mathematics and reading plummeted between 2020 and 2022. For older students, Advanced Placement exams and the SATs both were affected. Thousands of students had technical problems when they took an online, at-home version of the AP exams in May and June 2020. The College Board also dropped plans for an at-home choice for the SATs in 2020.
The AP program dates to 1955, established to ensure America's students did not fall behind those in the Soviet Union. The program offers college-level courses to high school students, typically capped by an exam. (A small number of courses do measure students' progress differently; for example, students studying art and design submits a portfolio.)
In all, 38 courses are given in the arts, English, history, math and computer science, the sciences, social sciences, world languages, and world cultures. College Board-administered exams are designed to measure a student's mastery of the material and are scored on a scale of 1 to 5. Most schools require a score of 3 or higher for a student to qualify for college credit or to be placed in a higher-level class.
EDsmart investigated how AP scores in 2021 compared to scores in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, for the 10 most popular tests using data from College Board.
As with nearly all AP tests in general, the number of students taking the exams on this list dropped after 2019 as the pandemic closed schools and forced virtual learning on a broader scale. The average score for most AP tests on this list also fell to just below 3. The steepest drop was in psychology, down more than 12% to 2.7. Two exceptions were average scores in human geography and English language, both of which rose. The percentage of students scoring a 3 or higher also fell, again with the same two exceptions. And here, psychology also recorded the largest decline, down more than 11%.
As for the SATs, the College Board paused the testing in 2020 in March, May, and June. Even when weekend testing resumed in August of the same year, many centers remained closed or limited their capacity for safety reasons.
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More colleges are making the SAT optional. Should high school students still take them?
Rido // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 184,111 (16.1% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.9 (0.7% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 57.9% (down 1.8% points since 2019)
Rido // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 184,111 (16.1% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.9 (0.7% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 57.9% (down 1.8% points since 2019)
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More colleges are making the SAT optional. Should high school students still take them?
GagliardiPhotography // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 211,735 (6.0% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.7 (5.5% increase since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 52.5% (up 3.4% points since 2019)
GagliardiPhotography // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 211,735 (6.0% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.7 (5.5% increase since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 52.5% (up 3.4% points since 2019)
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More colleges are making the SAT optional. Should high school students still take them?
Rido // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 230,527 (11.6% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.8 (3.1% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 59.2% (down 5.5% points since 2019)
Rido // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 230,527 (11.6% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.8 (3.1% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 59.2% (down 5.5% points since 2019)
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More colleges are making the SAT optional. Should high school students still take them?
Jessica Jeong // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 251,639 (16.3% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.8 (6.7% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 51.0% (down 7.4% points since 2019)
Jessica Jeong // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 251,639 (16.3% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.8 (6.7% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 51.0% (down 7.4% points since 2019)
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More colleges are making the SAT optional. Should high school students still take them?
Drazen Zigic // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 283,353 (10.0% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.6 (4.0% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 50.4% (down 4.7% points since 2019)
Drazen Zigic // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 283,353 (10.0% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.6 (4.0% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 50.4% (down 4.7% points since 2019)
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More colleges are making the SAT optional. Should high school students still take them?
Reda.G // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 288,511 (7.3% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.7 (12.3% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 53.3% (down 11.2% points since 2019)
Reda.G // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 288,511 (7.3% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.7 (12.3% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 53.3% (down 11.2% points since 2019)
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More colleges are making the SAT optional. Should high school students still take them?
kan_chana // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 302,232 (3.5% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.7 (1.5% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 52.2% (down 3.1% points since 2019)
kan_chana // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 302,232 (3.5% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.7 (1.5% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 52.2% (down 3.1% points since 2019)
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More colleges are making the SAT optional. Should high school students still take them?
Ground Picture // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 321,029 (15.5% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.5 (4.6% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 44.0% (down 5.7% points since 2019)
Ground Picture // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 321,029 (15.5% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.5 (4.6% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 44.0% (down 5.7% points since 2019)
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More colleges are making the SAT optional. Should high school students still take them?
Mike Flippo // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 454,204 (8.5% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.5 (7.0% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 47.2% (down 6.5% points since 2019)
Mike Flippo // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 454,204 (8.5% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.5 (7.0% decrease since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 47.2% (down 6.5% points since 2019)
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More colleges are making the SAT optional. Should high school students still take them?
Undrey // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 518,548 (9.5% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.9 (2.9% increase since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 57.7% (up 3.4% points since 2019)
This story originally appeared on EDsmart and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
Undrey // Shutterstock
- Total enrollment, 2021: 518,548 (9.5% decrease since 2019)
- Average score: 2.9 (2.9% increase since 2019)
- Students scoring 3 or higher: 57.7% (up 3.4% points since 2019)
This story originally appeared on EDsmart and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
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How the pandemic impacted teacher shortages — and ways schools are adapting
Canva
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the country and closed schools, teacher shortages were a problem. In 2016, Learning Policy Institute, a nonprofit research group, estimated that American schools were short more than 100,000 teachers. The group's "A Coming Crisis in Teaching?" report found that between 2009 and 2014, enrollment in teaching education programs had dropped 35%, which resulted in approximately 240,000 fewer new teachers entering the workforce.
HeyTutor cited data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to examine the impact of the pandemic on teacher shortages and to explore new policies and initiatives school districts have implemented to counter this issue.
The pandemic worsened the problem as more teachers left the profession, worn out by low wages, the unique difficulties of remote learning, and political fights over what they can teach in schools. They worried about their health and the health of others in their families. School shootings added further tension.
Approximately 300,000 public school teachers and other staff quit the field between February 2020 and May 2022, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing data from the BLS: That's a decrease of almost 3%. At the start of this school year, 44% of public schools had vacancies for full- or part-time teaching positions, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In more than 60% of schools with at least one vacancy, the openings resulted from resignations related to COVID-19.
Federal assistance came in multiple forms: The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund was distributed in three waves—most recently as a portion of the American Rescue Plan. The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds pumped billions into the public school system to ease teacher shortages, bolster in-classroom safety protocols, and provide technical support to students transitioning to remote learning.
Still, shortages remain, and the national public school system is attempting to address the shortage of new teachers entering the classroom while reinvigorating its employees—teachers and support staff alike.
Canva
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the country and closed schools, teacher shortages were a problem. In 2016, Learning Policy Institute, a nonprofit research group, estimated that American schools were short more than 100,000 teachers. The group's "A Coming Crisis in Teaching?" report found that between 2009 and 2014, enrollment in teaching education programs had dropped 35%, which resulted in approximately 240,000 fewer new teachers entering the workforce.
HeyTutor cited data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to examine the impact of the pandemic on teacher shortages and to explore new policies and initiatives school districts have implemented to counter this issue.
The pandemic worsened the problem as more teachers left the profession, worn out by low wages, the unique difficulties of remote learning, and political fights over what they can teach in schools. They worried about their health and the health of others in their families. School shootings added further tension.
Approximately 300,000 public school teachers and other staff quit the field between February 2020 and May 2022, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing data from the BLS: That's a decrease of almost 3%. At the start of this school year, 44% of public schools had vacancies for full- or part-time teaching positions, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In more than 60% of schools with at least one vacancy, the openings resulted from resignations related to COVID-19.
Federal assistance came in multiple forms: The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund was distributed in three waves—most recently as a portion of the American Rescue Plan. The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds pumped billions into the public school system to ease teacher shortages, bolster in-classroom safety protocols, and provide technical support to students transitioning to remote learning.
Still, shortages remain, and the national public school system is attempting to address the shortage of new teachers entering the classroom while reinvigorating its employees—teachers and support staff alike.
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How the pandemic impacted teacher shortages — and ways schools are adapting
HeyTutor
The average national salary has increased over the past decade by just 0.9% when adjusted for inflation, according to the National Education Association, the country's largest teachers union. The highest average teacher salaries in the 2019-2020 school year were found in New York at $87,069, California at $84,531, and Massachusetts at $84,290. The lowest were in Florida ($49,102), Mississippi ($46,843), and South Dakota ($48,984).
However, a growing number of states are giving teachers pay raises to tackle shortages in the classroom. The salary hikes are some of the largest in decades, particularly in states where teacher earnings have traditionally been much lower than elsewhere in the nation.
New Mexico, for example, increased base salary levels by 20% on average in March 2022. Florida is raising teachers' starting salary to $47,000 from an infusion of $800 million approved in the state's most recent legislative session. Mississippi approved a salary increase that will boost teachers' pay by 10%, an average of $5,100. Alabama will offer pay increases from 4% to almost 21%, while Georgia planned $2,000 bonuses for its teachers.
HeyTutor
The average national salary has increased over the past decade by just 0.9% when adjusted for inflation, according to the National Education Association, the country's largest teachers union. The highest average teacher salaries in the 2019-2020 school year were found in New York at $87,069, California at $84,531, and Massachusetts at $84,290. The lowest were in Florida ($49,102), Mississippi ($46,843), and South Dakota ($48,984).
However, a growing number of states are giving teachers pay raises to tackle shortages in the classroom. The salary hikes are some of the largest in decades, particularly in states where teacher earnings have traditionally been much lower than elsewhere in the nation.
New Mexico, for example, increased base salary levels by 20% on average in March 2022. Florida is raising teachers' starting salary to $47,000 from an infusion of $800 million approved in the state's most recent legislative session. Mississippi approved a salary increase that will boost teachers' pay by 10%, an average of $5,100. Alabama will offer pay increases from 4% to almost 21%, while Georgia planned $2,000 bonuses for its teachers.
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How the pandemic impacted teacher shortages — and ways schools are adapting
Canva
A Rand Corporation survey conducted early in 2021 found that 1 in 4 teachers strongly considered leaving their positions before the end of the 2020-2021 school year, and since that report, it seems stress levels for teachers have not dissipated. Rand conducted a further survey in January 2022, published in June, which found levels of stress in teachers and school principals to be twice that of the general working public. But only one-third of school leaders had made counselors or mental health services available to staff since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a 2022 Education Week survey.
K-12 teachers are the most likely to report feeling anxious, stressed and burnt out. A January 2022 report issued by the NEA found that 55% of surveyed educators planned to leave the profession early, either through taking early retirement or resigning their positions. Mental health resources for teachers, while not stemming from a single nationalized source, do exist. Teach for America has created a repository list of resources, and the NEA also offers assistance.
Canva
A Rand Corporation survey conducted early in 2021 found that 1 in 4 teachers strongly considered leaving their positions before the end of the 2020-2021 school year, and since that report, it seems stress levels for teachers have not dissipated. Rand conducted a further survey in January 2022, published in June, which found levels of stress in teachers and school principals to be twice that of the general working public. But only one-third of school leaders had made counselors or mental health services available to staff since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a 2022 Education Week survey.
K-12 teachers are the most likely to report feeling anxious, stressed and burnt out. A January 2022 report issued by the NEA found that 55% of surveyed educators planned to leave the profession early, either through taking early retirement or resigning their positions. Mental health resources for teachers, while not stemming from a single nationalized source, do exist. Teach for America has created a repository list of resources, and the NEA also offers assistance.
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How the pandemic impacted teacher shortages — and ways schools are adapting
HeyTutor
The coronavirus pandemic made the problem of teacher shortages more visible as schools scrambled to find substitutes for ill or quarantining staff. Qualified substitutes also have been in short supply, with the Brookings Institution citing Ohio's Madison school district as having fewer than one-third of the number of substitutes needed to cover its classrooms.
States have loosened some regulations to draw in teachers. Nevada, Iowa, and Missouri no longer require substitute teachers to have earned a minimum of 60 hours of college credits or an associate's degree, while Connecticut has eased the requirement that substitutes hold a bachelor's degree. Substitutes in New York can enter the classroom without a teaching degree. New Mexico turned to the state's National Guard to help plug the substitute gap.
The problem is not evenly spread among schools, however. A Brookings Institution study found that nearly half of teachers in schools with the highest number of Black and Hispanic students reported difficulty finding substitutes, compared to only 9% of teachers in schools with the lowest number of Black and Hispanic students.
HeyTutor
The coronavirus pandemic made the problem of teacher shortages more visible as schools scrambled to find substitutes for ill or quarantining staff. Qualified substitutes also have been in short supply, with the Brookings Institution citing Ohio's Madison school district as having fewer than one-third of the number of substitutes needed to cover its classrooms.
States have loosened some regulations to draw in teachers. Nevada, Iowa, and Missouri no longer require substitute teachers to have earned a minimum of 60 hours of college credits or an associate's degree, while Connecticut has eased the requirement that substitutes hold a bachelor's degree. Substitutes in New York can enter the classroom without a teaching degree. New Mexico turned to the state's National Guard to help plug the substitute gap.
The problem is not evenly spread among schools, however. A Brookings Institution study found that nearly half of teachers in schools with the highest number of Black and Hispanic students reported difficulty finding substitutes, compared to only 9% of teachers in schools with the lowest number of Black and Hispanic students.
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How the pandemic impacted teacher shortages — and ways schools are adapting
Canva
The pandemic further exacerbated another ongoing problem: the trouble some school districts have retaining teachers.
Even before the pandemic, some high-needs schools reported turnover of as much as 30%. Among the reasons cited by teachers for choosing to leave the profession were low salaries that failed to keep up with inflation and significant increases in stress leading to general mental health concerns.
The resulting strain on those teachers and support staff who choose to remain means an increased workload, potential disruptions to student scheduling and curriculum, and increased costs to the school district. Hiring new teachers can cost a school system from $15,000 to $30,000 for recruitment and training.
Less experienced teachers can result in lower test scores and poor performances by students—this continues to be of particular concern in light of the release of the National Assessment of Education Progress report. The study found what Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona calls an "appalling and unacceptable" drop in overall test scores nationwide resulting from the mass disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Canva
The pandemic further exacerbated another ongoing problem: the trouble some school districts have retaining teachers.
Even before the pandemic, some high-needs schools reported turnover of as much as 30%. Among the reasons cited by teachers for choosing to leave the profession were low salaries that failed to keep up with inflation and significant increases in stress leading to general mental health concerns.
The resulting strain on those teachers and support staff who choose to remain means an increased workload, potential disruptions to student scheduling and curriculum, and increased costs to the school district. Hiring new teachers can cost a school system from $15,000 to $30,000 for recruitment and training.
Less experienced teachers can result in lower test scores and poor performances by students—this continues to be of particular concern in light of the release of the National Assessment of Education Progress report. The study found what Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona calls an "appalling and unacceptable" drop in overall test scores nationwide resulting from the mass disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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How the pandemic impacted teacher shortages — and ways schools are adapting
Canva
Four-day school weeks had already gained popularity before the coronavirus pandemic hit. A Brookings Institution study found that 662 school districts in 24 states had turned to them before the pandemic forced schools to close, an increase of 600% since 1999.
By 2022, more than 800 districts have gone to four-day weeks, with the trend noticeable in rural areas of the Midwest and the South—dozens of districts in Texas, Missouri, Colorado, and Oklahoma had adopted them. The Brookings study reported that many teachers prefer the four-day week, but the authors still offered several cautions for districts to consider. Although the shortened week provided the districts more flexibility, they did not appear to save money overall. Some research found that student achievement fell, so school districts were urged to keep instructional time the same.
This story originally appeared on HeyTutor and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
Canva
Four-day school weeks had already gained popularity before the coronavirus pandemic hit. A Brookings Institution study found that 662 school districts in 24 states had turned to them before the pandemic forced schools to close, an increase of 600% since 1999.
By 2022, more than 800 districts have gone to four-day weeks, with the trend noticeable in rural areas of the Midwest and the South—dozens of districts in Texas, Missouri, Colorado, and Oklahoma had adopted them. The Brookings study reported that many teachers prefer the four-day week, but the authors still offered several cautions for districts to consider. Although the shortened week provided the districts more flexibility, they did not appear to save money overall. Some research found that student achievement fell, so school districts were urged to keep instructional time the same.
This story originally appeared on HeyTutor and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
Gone is the urgency to find the students who left — those eligible for free public education but who are not receiving any schooling at all. Early in the pandemic, school staff went door-to-door to reach and reengage kids. Most such efforts have ended.
“Everyone is talking about declining enrollment, but no one is talking about who’s leaving the system and why,” said Tom Sheppard, a New York City parent and representative on the city’s Panel for Educational Policy.
“No one,” he said, “is forthcoming.”
Losing the physical connection
To assess just how many students have gone missing, AP and Big Local News canvassed every state in the nation to find the most recently available data on both public and non-public schools, as well as census estimates for the school-age population.
Overall, public school enrollment fell by 710,000 students between the 2019-20 and 2021-22 school years in the 21 states plus Washington, D.C., that provided the necessary data.
Those states saw private-school enrollment grow by over 100,000 students. Home-schooling grew even more, surging by more than 180,000.
But the data showed 240,000 students who were neither in private school nor registered for home-school. Their absences could not be explained by population loss, either — such as falling birth rates or families who moved out of state.
States where kindergarten is optional were more likely to have larger numbers of unaccounted-for students, suggesting the missing also include many young learners kept home instead of starting school.
California alone showed over 150,000 missing students in the data, and New York had nearly 60,000. Census estimates are imperfect. So AP and Stanford ran a similar analysis for pre-pandemic years in those two states. It found almost no missing students at all, confirming something out of the ordinary occurred during the pandemic.
The true number of missing students is likely much higher. The analysis doesn’t include data from 29 states, including Texas and Illinois, or the unknown numbers of ghost students who are technically enrolled but rarely make it to class.
For some students, it was impossible to overcome losing the physical connection with school and teachers during the pandemic’s school closures.
José Escobar, an immigrant from El Salvador, had only recently enrolled in the 10th grade in Boston Public Schools when the campus shut down in March 2020. His school-issued laptop didn’t work, and because of bureaucratic hurdles, the district didn’t issue a new one for several weeks. His father stopped paying their phone bills after losing his restaurant job. Without any working technology for months, he never logged into remote classes.
When instruction resumed online that fall, he decided to walk away and find work as a prep cook. “I can’t learn that way,” he said in Spanish. At 21, he’s still eligible for school in Boston, but says he’s too old for high school and needs to work to help his family.
When schools don’t come through
When Kailani stopped logging into her virtual classes during the spring of her sophomore year, she received several emails from the school telling her she’d been truant. Between two to four weeks after she disappeared from Zoom school, her homeroom advisor and Spanish teacher each wrote to her, asking where she was. And the school’s dean of students called her great-grandmother, her legal guardian, to inform her about Kailani’s disappearance from school.
They didn’t communicate further, according to Kailani. She went to work at Chipotle, ringing up orders in Boston’s financial district.
Kathy Kmonicek, Associated Press
Kailani Taylor-Cribb stands in front of mural at a neighborhood community garden on Jan. 31 in Asheville, N.C.
In December, Kailani moved to North Carolina to make a new start. She teaches dance to elementary school kids now. Last month, she passed her high school equivalency exams. She wants to take choreography classes.
But she knows, looking back, that things could have been different. While she has no regrets about leaving high school, she says she might have changed her mind if someone at school had shown more interest and attention to her needs and support for her as a Black student.
“All they had to do was take action,” Kailani said. “There were so many times they could have done something. And they did nothing.”
