In other words, there is a conventional story line in the newsroom culture that provides a backbone and a ready-made narrative structure for otherwise confusing news.
No one working with these students claims to know how to keep all students in school. Counselors, teachers, and administrators are in the front lines of what seems at times to be a losing battle.
I do feel like this division is a problem, but I think probably you've hit on the most disturbing part of it, which is that the fault lines are increasingly along educational lines.