School attendance is key to academic success. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, national data indicate more students have been chronically absent, defined by experts as missing 15 days or more during the school year. Lower attendance numbers in metro Atlanta in early January, amid the omicron surge, show that absences remain a hurdle for schools.

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A migrant farmworker harvests Vidalia onions at a farm in Collins, in 2011. A coalition of farmworkers, including one based in Georgia, filed suit last month in federal court arguing that cuts to H-2A wages will trigger a cut in the pay and standard of living of U.S. agricultural workers. (Bita Honarvar/AJC)

Credit: Bita Honarvar