BALTIMORE — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is ordering the state juvenile-justice department to review its rules for sharing information about young people charged or convicted of violent crime, who are attending a public school.
RELATED | New policy gives school superintendents heads up on violent student transfers
The sharing of youth criminal history became a flashpoint after a 17-year-old Howard County student was charged with first-degree murder earlier this month.
The student - who had an ankle monitor after being convicted of attempted murder last year - is accused of killing a man whose body was found in a car near Howard High School, where the student transferred from Anne Arundel County .
RELATED | "We are outraged, exhausted with and traumatized by the dysfunction of Vincent Schiraldi’s DJS"
The murder prompted the state Department of Education this week to require school superintendents to confidentially share information about a student's criminal past when they're being transferred to a new district.
RELATED | People in Columbia share concerns after shootings on Saturday
Howard County Schools Superintendent William Barnes said last week:
If this information and data had been available to me prior to yesterday, I assure our community that I would not approve of placement at Howard High School.
Now, Moore is directing the Department of Juvenile Services to oversee an agency review of the information-sharing procedures.
Moore said in a statement that he "will be closely studying this interagency review upon its completion."
The state's newly-formed Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform and Emerging Best Practices (which was formed before the Howard County incident) will also hold its first meeting soon, and will take into consideration the new interagency review.
