The Department of Education and Development has vowed to continue to hold parents accountable for the actions of their children through the ongoing efforts of attendance officers.

On Wednesday the mother of a CedarBridge Academy pupil was fined $50 for failing to secure her son?s attendance in school.

Her son missed 61 classes between March 5 and May 10 totalling 12 days absent from school and between October 2004 and May 2005 he missed a total of 146 classes, making up 28 school days.

Yesterday Acting Attendance Co-ordinator Michael Smith said this was just an isolated case and incidents of truancy had decreased significantly since the programme was introduced in 1999.

While attendance in the primary and middle schools has remained stable since then, attendance at the senior level has risen from 85 percent in 1999, to 91 percent in 2002/2003, and to 91.7 percent in 2003/2004.

There are currently five attendance officers operating in all Government schools in Bermuda and monitor the attendance of about 6,000 children between the ages of five and 16.

Mr. Smith said the programme?s mission was not just about catching truant pupils, but also working with them and school counsellors in solving whatever problems the children might be experiencing ? at school and at home.

But he added: ?Sometimes you come across children you simply can?t help and this is where Family Services step in and take over ? but that?s when things are really out of control.?

On average only four pupils a year are referred to Family Services, which Mr. Smith said is not bad if you consider they monitor about 6,000 pupils.

He said most children just didn?t want to go to school and were unhappy with the school environment.

There is a certain order to things and pupils who are caught playing hooky would first be called in to work with a school counsellor.

If this did not work, then parents were called in, but sometimes this also did not work.

?At some senior schools we have school contracts and pupils have to get every teacher to sign the contract for every class,? he said.

If truancy continues, the pupils are issued a ?ministry contract? which has to be signed not only by teachers in every class, but also by parents on a daily basis.

?If a parent sees that a child has missed a class, they have to contact the school and if they fail to do so, that?s when the parents go to court,? he said, adding that this was considered ?the last straw?.