Students in the Four Corners have disappeared from attendance rolls. What happened?

Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi is a contributing writer at Searchlight and a member of the Navajo Nation. Her work appears in the Navajo Times, The New York Times and many other publications. She is also a doctoral student and writing instructor at the University of New Mexico.
Education in the rearview mirror
Living in internet dead zones and sometimes without electricity at home, Indigenous youths in New Mexico and Arizona went to extraordinary lengths to attend virtual classes.
A broken system
From medical health privacy laws to a maze of siloed information systems, a true accounting of COVID-19’s impact on Indian Country is impossible to know.
In their own words: Zuni Pueblo and Navajo Nation
What children say about online learning and a school year lost to COVID
The deadly loss of Navajo women
On the Navajo Nation, the coronavirus is leaving children motherless, families lost and traditions in peril. But Diné women fight on.
Navajo elders: Alone, without food, in despair
A Navajo reporter checks in on elderly people on the reservation. Hunger and neglect is what she finds.
Planting hope amid a plague
Older generations on the Navajo Nation have passed down stories of scourges, resilience — and survival. New generations are bringing the tales to life.