York parents fined over child’s school attendance (From York Press)
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York parents fined over child’s school attendance
10:40am Friday 7th September 2012 in News
A WOMAN whose nine-year-old child repeatedly failed to attend school has been fined by City of York Council .
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, previously failed to attend York Magistrates’ Court on August 9, and again yesterday, so a trial took place in her absence.
The court heard the child, a primary school pupil in the west of York, had missed school on 40 out of a possible 136 occasions between December 2011 and March 2012 – an absence rate of more than 29 per cent, compared to the city average in primary schools of less than five per cent.
Both parents had been invited to the school to discuss the child’s attendance, but failed to provide legitimate reasons, so when the head teacher decided not to authorise the absences, the council became involved.
The mother was fined £110 plus £50 costs and a £15 victim surcharge. The father, who had pleaded guilty, was fined £70, and ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge and £50 costs.
