The days of the formidable truant officer who chased after hooky-playing delinquents and led them back to school by the ear are gone. Today's "attendance counselors" see their function as protecting a child's right to a meaningful education. Although their goal is still to get absent students back to classes, their approach is now a more understanding and sophisticated one. A questionnaire study was sent to 73 Canadian school boards concerning the roles and opinions of attendance counselors. Of the 39 respondents, most thought that attendance records should be forwarded to a new school. Nearly all counselors thought that parents should be informed of responsibilities, school policy, transportation, and consequences of rule infractions. They favored notes from parents explaining absences over those from students and approved of a five- to ten-day suspension when necessary. Slightly less than half the boards specified that their attendance workers are known as attendance counselors. The respondents felt that a portion of the general public still thought of them as enforcers, but only about 2 percent of attendance workers thought of themselves as enforcers. The questionnaires revealed that professionals in this field were paid from $10,000 to $24,500 per year. Considerable night work was usually involved. Most respondents felt they were not clearly enough instructed about sharing confidential student information. (Author/JM)