Despite COVID hindrances, school nonattendance cases are proceeding A local teachers’ group claimed Nueces County judges are not hearing truancy cases due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the judges say cases are proceeding, gradually. When school officials submit truancy petitions to courts, the parent is leveled a Class C misdemeanor charge of parent contributing to nonattendance, while the child is referred for truant conduct, a civil matter. A county prosecutor reviews the student petition to make sure it meets all criteria; if it does, the petition is handed to a justice of the peace for a hearing. Parents’ nonattendance cases do not undergo that process. That’s why Nueces County justices of the peace are moving forward with parent cases while student truancy cases are pending in Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez’s office.