Post-Pandemic Cultural Shift Drives School Absentee Crisis

Larry Moore doesn’t work in a school, but he knows why so many students skip class. On any given day, neighborhood kids relax in the chair and talk as he cuts their hair. It’s hard to get moving in the morning when there’s nothing in the fridge, the children tell Moore. Nobody is making us go. I feel like the teachers are constantly judging me. They think I’m dirty, and I think they’re boring. Why spend year after year there if it doesn’t get me anywhere? “They tell me they get more gratification from almost anything else, even stealing a candy bar,” said Moore, a licensed barbershop owner who volunteers his time giving free haircuts and hygiene guidance at the Mary Nelson Youth Center on the south side of Syracuse, New York....