Prince George’s Del. Doyle Niemann has withdrawn his bill that would have required truants in the county to wear electronic monitoring devices.
“That was never the focus of the bill,” Niemann said Monday of the electronic monitoring language. “Or even a central part of it.”
Instead, Niemann now has co-sponsored legislation that would expand a pilot truancy program on the Eastern Shore to Prince George’s and Harford Counties. Niemann said Prince George’s Sen. Gwendolyn Britt, who sponsored a bill identical to Niemann’s in the Senate, has also endorsed the new legislation.
Under Niemann’s original bill, if certain criteria were met, a civil court could deal with truants using options that included placing them in community detention or putting them in an electronic monitoring device program.
On Monday, Niemann told The Examiner that the electronic monitoring language “was a distraction” and the goal of the bill is to establish a truancy court. Unlike his original legislation, Niemann said the new bill “allows the school system to file a complaint directly with the court” and also eliminates the community detention language.
According to the new bill, the court may order a child to attend school, counseling (including family counseling), substance abuse evaluation and treatment, mental health evaluation and treatment; perform community service; or keep a curfew with the hours set by the court.
Del. Norman Conway, who represents Wicomico and Worcester counties on the Eastern Shore, has sponsored the legislation.
Under the existing program, Conway said, judges couldn’t enforce their requirements.
“You have to work with the family and try to encourage them to be part of it,” Conway said. “We want some language and some enforcement authority for the [judge].”
