Some students are missing in my Virtual classroom.

I am an elementary school teacher. Last semester I went virtual, and I am still virtual this semester. I love virtual. It is so nice. No lunch duty, recess duty, or having to deal with other teachers in the staff room. Don’t get me wrong, I like my students a lot. With virtual, I can just focus on teaching.<br><br>I teach 4th grade in the morning and 5th grade in the afternoon. For the most part, my students are good about logging in. I have a lot of fun. <br><br>Yesterday, something odd happened. <br><br>Normally, I have between 15 - 22 students logging in each day. But yesterday, I only had 12 5th graders logging in. I didn’t think much of it. I assumed some of my students were sick, or their internet was down.<br><br>But today, when I again only had 12 students log in, I decided to reach out to the parents of my missing students. <br><br>I emailed the parents. Usually the parents would respond almost immediately. This time, none of them responded. <br><br>I decided to call them. Again, no one answered. <br><br>I decided to call the home of my missing students to see if I could get someone to let me know if my missing students were ok. <br><br>When I called, someone answered. <br><br>“Hello, I am (my first and last name), (my student’s name) teacher” <br><br>“I know who you are. He / She really likes you” <br><br>“Thank you. I was calling to check in on (my student’s name) because he / she missed my online class yesterday and today, which is very unusual for a diligent student like (my student’s name). How are they doing?”. <br><br>“I am not sure. (My student’s name) is not here. We haven’t seen him / her since we brought him / her to school on the first day of this school year” <br><br>“Is he / she at his / her grandfather’s house in (town / city)?”. <br><br>“No. We haven’t heard from (my student’s name)”. <br><br>“Maybe he / she is at his / her friend (my student’s best friend’s name) house?”. <br><br>“No. We haven’t heard from (my student’s name)” <br><br>I repeat this same conversation with the other missing parents. <br><br>I am excited to hear from them. When they say that they haven’t seen their kid since they dropped him / her off on the first day of this school year, I thought nothing of it. I assumed it was just a Covid Quarantine. <br><br>When I finished calling all the parents. I reached out to the school administrators. I emailed them and called them. Again, no one answered. <br><br>I decided to drive to the school. <br><br>It was closed. There was a sign that read ‘ closed until further notice’ <br><br>I was flummoxed. I decided to drive to the local police station. <br><br>When I got to the police station, I explained my situation and asked if they could help. <br><br>They said that they had gotten a lot of reports of people not being able to contact friends and family when they tried to contact them in mid August. They also said that a lot of people were missing. They said they closed all the public schools on the 26th of August, because of all the missing students and teachers. <br><br>The police officer also told me that a lot of people were not in their houses. He said that thousands of houses were empty. He said it was as if people just disappeared in the night. <br><br>I was shocked. <br><br>I then decided to go to my student’s houses. I drove to each of their houses. Most of them were empty. But a few had people living in them. <br><br>I drove back to my house. <br><br>I thought nothing more about it. I had fun with my students. <br><br>Today, I decided to again call the parents of my missing students. <br><br>I again was met with the same results as before. <br><br>I decided to go to some of my students houses. <br><br>I parked a few blocks away. I approached my student’s houses from the back instead of walking up to the front door. I walked through their backyards. I climbed over fences and hopped over walls. I was very stealthy. <br><br>I got to the first house. I peeked in through a window. <br><br>Inside was one of my missing students. He / She was doing his / her homework. I was flummoxed. I thought he / she was missing. <br><br>I continued to the other houses. I only found two other students doing their homework. <br><br>I was excited. Two students were missing. <br><br>I went home. I was ecstatic. I was happy. <br><br>I drove to the police station. I explained everything to them. I told them which streets my students lived on. I told them which houses my students lived in. I told the police the names of my missing students. <br><br>The police seemed relieved. They were almost in tears. <br><br>They asked me if I was willing to help them. They explained that people have been missing. They said that they only know where a few of them are. If I helped them, they would make sure I didn’t have any problems with my career as a teacher. <br><br>I agreed. <br><br>I have been going to houses. I have only found 3 people. One was an elementary school teacher. Another was a high school student. The last was a mail man. <br><br>I have visited almost 400 houses. <br><br>I still have 600 houses to visit. <br><br>What am I going to find.