Maryland Gov. Wes Moore orders review of crime disclosure among students

Maryland’s governor is getting involved after the state school board ordered the release of students’ criminal histories.

Wes Moore this week ordered the Department of Juvenile Services to conduct an interagency review of how it shares information about Maryland public school students who have been charged or convicted of violent crimes, according to a press release Friday.

State board decided on Tuesday that superintendents must be notified if new students have committed serious crimes while attending previous schools in Maryland. Before the special vote, the ordinance called for law enforcement to notify the school system if a student had been arrested for certain crimes. It permitted, but did not require, a school system to notify another school system of misconduct if a student transferred. The change now introduces an obligation.

The policy change comes after a Howard High School student had a prior criminal record charged with first degree murder. Howard County Superintendent Bill Barnes – he said at a press conference last week that the 17-year-old had transferred from a neighboring school district and that Howard had “no documentation” to prove the nature of his crimes.

Police said the 17-year-old was under the supervision of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services and was wearing an ankle monitor during a previous incident in another jurisdiction. Last week, Barnes said school officials knew he was receiving support from the Department of Juvenile Services but did not know any other details until his bail hearing last week.

The interrogation revealed that the student had previously shot a person who is now paralyzed. Barnes said last week that if the school system had known about it, the 17-year-old would not have been accepted at Howard High.

This prompted a letter from state lawmakers to State Superintendent Carey Wright on Monday. The letter calls on the Department of Education to, among other things, direct all 24 public school systems to report data on students who have committed reportable offenses and who have transferred to the school district or been transferred within the past year.

Wright told the media Tuesday that all lawmakers’ requests were incorporated into the rule update.

At Thursday’s school board meeting, Barnes announced that the cases of approximately 48 currently enrolled Howard County students exposed to DJS will be investigated by school staff, according to WJZand that, among other things, if a reportable offense is recorded, the student’s family will be interviewed.

A news release from Moore’s office said an initial review was conducted that included the state Department of Education, the Attorney General’s Office and the Maryland Center for School Safety. The result of that audit was a rule change that was approved by the state school board on Tuesday.

The rule, which requires state legislative approval before going into effect, applies to a student who transfers from one Maryland public or private school (an independent, publicly funded high-needs school) to another and does not apply to students who who come to Maryland public schools from independent education programs, out-of-state programs, private schools, or others.

It only applies to students arrested for a “reportable crime,” including murder, arson, armed carjacking and sex crimes.

The press release says the procedures under review are not intended to punish students involved in the criminal justice system, but to help provide information that may impact the safety of school communities.

According to the release, the current review will inform the work of the Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform and Emerging Best Practices, which is a statewide commission reviewing and reporting on juvenile services, facilities and programs in Maryland. The commission’s first meeting will be held “in the coming weeks.”

“The actions we take today will help us make Maryland safer as we continue to work with all segments of society to meet the needs of our schools,” Moore said in a news release. “I will be closely studying this interagency review once it is completed.”

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