Teachers told of tantrums, at times violent, and of chairs thrown in classrooms. On Fridays, educators said, students can take home backpacks full of food so they won’t go hungry over the weekend. Some had returned the next morning and casually mentioned that a parent had died or overdosed the prior evening. Last academic year, 28 middle and high school students in the Portsmouth City School District told counselors that they had contemplated suicide, said Beth Burke, a guidance counselor at Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, the county seat. “They don’t want to live this life and they have no way out.”In many ways, Portsmouth High is like home for many of these students.

Source: New York Times May 31, 2019 22:07 UTC