Where Have All the Children Gone?

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In Ontario, where I live, schools were closed for 135 days during the pandemic. Both here and in the United States, there was very little critical media coverage on this unprecedented public policy. But my guest on today’s program was reporting on those left behind by school closures from the very beginning. Now, he’s covering an element of the aftermath that’s not getting much attention — the crisis in absenteeism.

Alec MacGillis is an author and an award-winning investigative journalist. He’s a reporter at ProPublica, and his latest piece, published both there and at The New Yorker, is “Has School Become Optional?”

Alec MacGillis is my guest, today on Lean Out. Transcript to come for paid subscribers.