Whether or not parents are responsible for their children's attendance in school once they are out of their care, was an issue considered by a magistrate yesterday as four mothers accused of failing to secure regular attendance appeared in court.

Donna Hill-Harvey, Paulette Anderson, Zather Dill and Karen Gunness all stood before Acting Magistrate Justin Williams, who heard that their children did not attend school regularly between September last year and April 2002.

Mrs. Hill- Harvey, 39, of Middletown, Pembroke, admitted the charge to Mr. Williams but said CedarBridge Academy had sent a letter of apology to her because they had miscalculated her daughter's absences. However, after discounting the time which was in discrepancy, her daughter still had missed 26 out of 130 school days.

Before being fined $50, she told Mr. Williams that she just wanted to get the ordeal over with and added: "For me to make sure that she stays in school, I can't do that." A sentiment which was echoed by Ms Anderson, 38, of Bob's Valley, Sandy's, who insisted that she did her best to ensure that her two sons were at school. "Everyday I wake them up myself, make sure they have breakfast and do my best to make sure they are out of the house by 7.30 a.m. when the CedarBridge bus leaves Somerset," she said.

The single parent told the magistrate that she had asked her sons why they did not attend school, and their response was that "they went to school, but did not go to class".

School records read out in court reflected that her oldest son had only attended one class - motor mechanics - and nothing else. When questioned by Crown counsel Oonagh Vaucrosson about the extent of how she made sure that her children attended school, Ms Anderson responded: "I see them get out the door."

"But do you see them get on the bus?" asked Mrs. Vaucrosson.

"No," said the mother.

"So you don't know if they actually go to school?"

"No. I don't know," said Ms Anderson. Mrs. Anderson adamantly told the court that she made sure her children left for school and always stressed to her sons the importance of receiving an education. Citing that she would lose time from work if she personally escorted her sons to school daily, she told Mr. Williams: "Your honour, I have to work. We need to keep a roof over their heads. I can't call up the Housing Corporation and tell them that I can't pay the rent because I have to make sure that my children go to school every day." But Mr. Williams told her: "I have some sympathy for parents who bring their child to school, but they don't go to classes. But I find it hard to believe that children hide in the bathroom for five periods a day.

Mr. Williams found her guilty and fined her $50 for each child.

But Ms Dill, 33, of Union Street, Pembroke and Ms Gunness, 36, of Bob's Valley, Sandy's, found themselves in almost identical situations.

Both mothers told the magistrate that they dropped their children at school each day and were surprised to be notified by the Ministry of Education that they children were not attending regularly.

The mother-of-three broke down in tears as she explained to Mr. Williams that her daughter not attending school upset her greatly. "I'm trying to do everything under the sun. I even gave up a job to do this," she said.

Ms Dill also said that her daughter had got into a situation with one of her teachers and was sent out of the class and was never allowed back, yet was marked absent.

"I asked to have her transferred into another class, but Berkeley did nothing."

Ms Gunness told Mr. Williams that when her son's absences were brought to her attention, she questioned him heavily, but all he could say was that "teachers made mistakes when marking the register".

She said that although she listened to what he had to say she did not necessarily believe him. Both parents said that neither child had problems with truancy until they reached the senior school level.

In both cases, Leonard `Shinah' Simons, who is the attendance co-ordinator for the Ministry told Mr. Williams that he believed that children were in need of increased supervision.

Before rendering his judgement in their cases, he ordered a social inquiry report for both students. Ms Gunness and Ms Dill are to return to Magistrates' Court on August 29.