After an hours-long, and at times tense, Senate hearing with the Department of Juvenile Services Secretary Vincent Schiraldi, a House committee is also gearing up to demand answers from him.

A legislative audit of the department was parsed by members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee during the Jan. 15 hearing. The report revealed gaps in oversight from DJS for various programs and services children under the agency’s supervision are sent to, including a lack of performance metrics.

Schiraldi, who was peppered with questions from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, said his department is working on implementing changes, but that it will take time. Lawmakers also grilled Schiraldi about whether assaults on staff members are up or down and debated the definition of recidivism.

What’s being done to improve the systems and communication at DJS is what Del. Luke Clippinger, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said he will be looking for when DJS comes before his committee in February.

“I think we want to see what steps they’ve taken since the Senate had a hearing; I want to see what steps they’ve taken,” Clippinger, a Baltimore Democrat, said Tuesday. “I want to begin to hear the process for them to start to make improvements within the agency.”

When pushed on whether he believes there needs to be leadership change at DJS, Clippinger echoed what other lawmakers have said when faced with the same question: it’s up to Gov. Wes Moore to decide.

“The governor is going to have to make a decision based on what he sees,” he said. “But I do think that we want to make sure that he tells us what’s going on, responses to some of the issues outlined in the audit.”

The back-and-forth that unfolded in the Senate committee between members and Schiraldi did not go unnoticed by Clippinger, though he admitted he has yet to watch the full hearing.

“I was able to watch the first half — I’ve got a committee to run here,” Clippinger said, adding that he has time between now and his hearing withSchiraldi to get caught up.

“We’re still raising issues with the DJS and the governor’s office fairly regularly, so I’ll leave it at that,” he added.

Clippinger noted that he may also want to try to bring the newly created juvenile justice oversight commission before his committee to question it about the challenges and improvements unfolding within DJS. But he said that may not happen until next session because the committee just started its work.

During the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, several lawmakers expressed frustration with DJS and their perception that improvements aren’t unfolding quickly enough. There are also questions about why certain data sets aren’t being tracked more closely.

“You’re checking all the bureaucracy boxes but you’re not checking to see if the services are doing the job,” said Sen. Chris West, a Baltimore County Republican.

“Sometimes I think that’s an accurate description,” Schiraldi said. “The department I inherited was doing none of this.”

Sen. Will Smith, chair of the committee, said “Some of the information in this report is very troubling.”

“We’ve gotta get the processes right,” said Smith, a Montgomery County Democrat. “You can only fix this stuff and have an honest conversation.”

Schiraldi admitted his department can do a better job of tracking some of the programs but argued spending money from his budget to audit and evaluate how other programs operated wouldn’t be a good use of the funding.

Schiraldi blamed the lack of accurate data on an outdated system the department uses, but was pushed on why the system was still in place after a replacement program was being tested for implementation. Staff concerns caused DJS to scrap the new program, according to Schiraldi, and plans are in place for another new system.

The House Judiciary Committee hearing with Schiraldi is scheduled for 11 a.m. Feb. 13.

Have a news tip? Contact reporter Mikenzie Frost at mbfrost@sbgtv.com.