What happened to Hawaii’s school children during the pandemic? An awful lot, some of it, in fact, pretty awful.

There was illness, of course, and, for some children in particular, a significant learning loss. And for a subset of these children, especially long absences.

The state Department of Education is tasked to address the problems stemming from COVID-19 and its disruption of public schooling. The challenge of keeping track of students no longer in the classroom is as concerning as any, particularly because of the unknown number who are at risk of simply falling through the cracks.

And that means that both the DOE and the lawmakers funding the schools’ continuing pandemic recovery must stay on top of this problem.

In about a week, the department is due for the annual report from its Strive HI Performance System, which will encompass the full range of data, from attendance to graduation rates and academic achievement.

Meanwhile, Tammi Oyadomari-Chun, the DOE’s newly named deputy superintendent of strategy, already has the initial count of “chronically absent” students at about 2,000, or 1.4% of the state’s enrollment total. That was based on the enrolled students who missed 15 or more days of school in the first month of this school year.

At that point, she said, teams of school principals and officials at district complexes work to find the students and, if their parents or guardians haven’t made alternative schooling arrangements, bring them back to campus.

This absenteeism problem was even more acute during the spotty in-person instruction of 2021-22. COVID-19 protocols were much more strict when vaccinations for youth were not available and frequent quarantines were imposed.

During that time, on average, 37% of students were out of school; the proportion of off-campus elementary students was even higher, at a whopping 41% — with those in grades K-2 especially high, Oyadomari-Chun said. Reasons for absence ranged from illness or quarantine to attendance at another school.

Absences had been disproportionately common among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders — also the groups most vulnerable to COVID-19, Oyadomari- Chun said.

Even with near-normal school schedules now resuming, a measurable drop in enrollment has persisted. Much of this is due to falling birth rates, as well as military families and others staying in Hawaii during the pandemic and then relocating, she added.

But there are other trends. Philip J. Bossert, executive director of the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that in a typical year the nonprofit gets one or two inquiries from parents about starting or attending a new private school.

That tally jumped to about eight to 10 over the pandemic years, Bossert said, adding that parents might not know that, if the school is unlicensed, they are essentially homeschooling their kids and must file that plan with their public school.

However, Oyadomari-Chun said she is more concerned about missing children who do not have any alternative schooling arrangement, and she is right. These are students at risk of falling hopelessly behind — and lapsing into other social problems as well. Falling off the radar that schools can provide for safety and support could lead to darker consequences.

The DOE has been using federal COVID-19 relief funds for locating absent children and addressing their learning loss — $7.6 million pending school board approval for the current year. Officials intend to seek aid from lawmakers to continue this work.

They certainly should get it, and present updated data and a plan for outreach and remedial work with lapsed students. Hawaii can’t afford to let the legacy of COVID-19 include a lost cohort of its kids.