Are Georgia’s School Safety Efforts Making Kids Miss Class?

Efforts to make Georgia schools safer are exacerbating student absenteeism, a major problem that lawmakers have been studying since this summer.

Many students who are awaiting a tribunal for an alleged disciplinary infraction may be out of school for several weeks before they get a hearing on their guilt or innocence, Darlene Lynch told lawmakers at a hearing Monday

Kids get long-term suspensions or expulsions for minor infractions and wind up in alternative schools that do not offer busing, said Lynch, who is with Georgia Appleseed, a legal advocacy group. If their parents cannot get them to school, she said, they drop out.

“A lot of our cases involve vapes right now — being suspended for three semesters,” said Lynch, who was among about a dozen advocates, experts and officials who spo