The reporter investigates how rising housing costs and evictions undermine students’ school stability, showing that eviction increases school transfers, chronic absenteeism and suspensions. She follows Sechita McNair, a former film-industry worker and mother of three, who tried to return to Atlanta after an eviction so her children could stay in their schools. After multiple visits and ongoing contact, the story reveals McNair’s openness, heavy responsibilities and dogged efforts — efforts that, despite following experts’ advice, have not yet secured the stability her children need.
Documenting Eviction’s Toll on Students: A Reporter’s Close Look at a Mother Fighting to Keep Her Children in School
The reporter investigates how rising housing costs and evictions undermine students’ school stability, showing that eviction increases school transfers, chronic absenteeism and suspensions. She follows Sechita McNair, a former film-industry worker and mother of three, who tried to return to Atlanta after an eviction so her children could stay in their schools. After multiple visits and ongoing contact, the story reveals McNair’s openness, heavy responsibilities and dogged efforts — efforts that, despite following experts’ advice, have not yet secured the stability her children need.
01:45 PM, 11/14/2025Society
Documenting Eviction’s Toll on Students
As an education reporter based in Atlanta, I often heard teachers say that the most damaging problems their students face — poverty and unstable housing among them — are beyond what schools alone can fix. I set out to understand how rising housing costs and frequent evictions undermine a young person’s ability to thrive in school and in life.
What the research shows
Research indicates that children threatened with eviction are more likely to transfer to another school, and those destination schools often have lower funding, higher poverty concentrations and lower test scores. They are also more likely to miss school, and students who transfer face higher suspension rates.
Reporting on the ground
In my reporting, I found that pattern repeatedly. When I covered students who were absent for months at a time, many told me a housing disruption had first kept them out of class: they lost their homes, stayed with relatives and were out of school for weeks or longer.
I reached out to a parent organizer in Atlanta who had connected me with families affected by the city’s rapid gentrification. She introduced me to Sechita McNair, a loquacious mother of three trying to move back to Atlanta after an eviction so her children could remain in their schools.
Sechita McNair’s story
McNair was unusually forthcoming. As a former film-industry professional, she understood the value of documenting each step of eviction and of the struggle to keep her children stable. I didn’t have to explain why I wanted details about where she was when she received certain calls or why I asked for emails and documents. She believed her story of perseverance might help others facing similar challenges.
At the same time, McNair’s life was complicated. She carries immense family responsibilities without steady support from relatives and holds on to a conviction that things will improve if she keeps moving forward. Her plans and circumstances changed quickly, and I sometimes struggled to keep pace.
I traveled to Atlanta three times over several months to see McNair, and we stayed in nearly constant contact between visits. Often I spoke with her while she drove her boys to and from school or picked up orders for Uber Eats. The reporting produced a close-up portrait of a single mother trying to swim upstream while supporting three sons.
The hardest truth: Everything McNair was doing — trying to get her children back into their Atlanta schools — aligns with what researchers recommend about keeping kids in the same school for stability. Yet, so far, those efforts have not been enough to secure the stability her children need.
About the reporter: Bianca Vázquez Toness covers the intersection of education and children’s well-being. She led national reporting showing how many students missed school after the pandemic; that work was honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Funding disclosure: The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.