ANAHEIM, Calif., Feb. 20 (UPI) -- A technology company says a pilot program using the Global Positioning System to monitor truants in Southern California isn't a punishment.
The Anaheim Union High School District is issuing kids who are chronically late for school a handheld GPS device that requires them to check in at regular intervals and ensures they are where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there.
"The idea is for this not to feel like a punishment, but an intervention to help them develop better habits and get to school," Miller Sylvan of AIM Truancy Solutions told The Orange County Register.
The GPS device is being field tested on middle-school kids with four or more unexcused absences in lieu of detention or other traditional remedies.
PC Magazine said Sunday the devices, which cost as much as $400 each, require the user to check in when leaving for school in the morning and then four more times into the early evening.
As an added incentive to get to school on time, each kid gets a morning wake-up call telling them to hit the deck and get to class.
PC Magazine said similar pilot programs in the U.S. boosted daily school attendance rates from 77 percent up to 95 percent.
