When students miss lots of school without an excuse, it’s known as truancy — and in Madison County, Ind., it can lead to a visit from truancy investigator Mitch Carroll.

School absenteeism was already considered too high before COVID. But there was a surprisingly sharp rise in the number of chronically absent students after things were thought to be getting back to normal.

More than a quarter of Bibb Schools students were chronically absent last school year, according to attendance data.

HuffPost reporter Molly Redden explains how a program trying to reduce school absences produced unintended consequences—both for California families and Harris herself.