The Royal Gazette has learned that new Education Minister Tim Smith has already discussed the idea with CedarBridge Academy principal Ernest Payette.

And Mr. Smith plans to meet with Public Safety Minister Maxwell Burgess and other school principals "imminently'' to discuss "a truancy sweep''.

If approved, the crackdown would most likely begin in the city, Mr. Smith said.

He was responding to concerns raised on Wednesday by Opposition spokesperson for education in the Senate, Neletha Butterfield.

Sen. Butterfield told the Upper House she believed there could be hundreds of students, who over the last few years, have simply dropped out of the public school system.

By not looking into the problem, the Education Ministry was creating a major headache for the future of Bermuda.

Many students drifted out of school, some for many terms, and became involved in petty crime or put increased pressure on their families by being at home, she said.

She therefore called on Mr. Smith to tackle the truancy problem and called on the Education Department to present statistics on the issue.

While admitting that truancy was a serious problem, Mr. Smith told The Royal Gazette it was not "chronic'' "It is a problem in some of our schools,'' he said. "It is more prevalent at the senior level. But it is virtually non-existent at the primary level.

"Obviously non-attendance is a serious issue. An absent student is missing out on new knowledge.'' Mr. Smith revealed that he has been considering a "truancy sweep'' since taking over the Ministry.

"I will be meeting with the Minister for Public Safety and principals,'' he said. "We will discuss sweeps, perhaps first in Hamilton, on students who should be in school. If agreed to, there is no reason why it should not be implemented in September.'' But Sen. Butterfield said she saw no need to involve the Public Safety Ministry in the truancy issue.

"I personally don't see the need of Public Safety getting involved,'' she said. "The accountability has to come from the Ministry of Education. After all, they have the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of students.'' If any sweep was to take place, she added, it should be at the Education Ministry.

"We need to stop playing around (with education),'' Sen. Butterfield said.

"Something has to give way. We have an alternative school with only four students and no computers to help students with computer literacy. What was the purpose of it (the alternative school)? "The UK is spending $1.3 billion on crime that is being committed by teenagers and what are we doing? Waiting until Bermuda gets to that point?'' Truancy `sweep' "Police should be protecting the community rather than going around picking up children,'' she added, "unless they are going to charge the parents.'' Sen. Butterfield said she intended to keep the truancy issue alive until the Ministry admitted there was a real problem and addressed it.

She suggested that rather than trying to come up with new ideas, the Ministry should look at fixing what worked.

Principals and teachers wanted to see the return of truancy officers, she added.

Parents had no reason to believe that their children, who they saw leaving for school in uniform, were not attending, she noted. Therefore, they needed to rely on schools and the Ministry keeping accurate attendance records.

Sen. Butterfield said some students explained that they were skipping school because they were frustrated and not doing any work.

Regular assessments of students' abilities from an early age would go a long way to addressing this, she suggested.

"Fifty years ago people left school with basic skills,'' she noted. "People only dropped out of school to support their families.''