New MD rule requires schools to share students’ criminal records

MARYLAND — The Maryland State Board of Education this week unanimously approved a change to emergency rules that requires schools to share information about criminal incidents with students.

The new rule, effective immediately, changes a previous rule that gave school officials the ability to disclose a student’s criminal history if the student transferred from one Maryland public school system to another.

“If this information is not communicated to the school to which the student is transferring, the receiving school will not have the information that could impact the safety dynamics within the school community,” Maryland State Superintendent Carey Wright said in a memo.

According to a WTOP report, the changed rule only affects direct student transfers from one Maryland public school system to another. It is not intended for students with criminal records or allegations against juveniles who come from independent education programs, out-of-state internships, non-public schools, or other internships in Maryland schools.

The new ruling came a week after the arrest of a 17-year-old Ellicott City boy in connection with the shooting of a Baltimore man who was found dead in a vehicle behind a Columbia office building.

The teen, later identified as Tracee Octavious Parker, was arrested Oct. 15 at Howard High School, where he was a student. Police said he had a loaded gun in his backpack and was wearing an ankle monitor for an incident in another jurisdiction.

According to police, Parker was under the supervision of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services at the time of his arrest. Parker has since been charged as an adult with first-degree murder and other charges.

Howard County Superintendent Bill Barnes confirmed at a recent news conference that officials were unaware that Parker – who enrolled from a neighboring school district – was under the supervision of the Department of Juvenile Services and was unaware of his previous convictions.

“We learned … following the bail hearing about very serious alleged violent offenses in this individual’s past. If this information and data had been available to us earlier … I assure our community that I would not have agreed to placement at Howard.” “For this student, it’s high school,” Barnes said. “Good decisions are based on accurate data. And I now know that there is important data that is not available to the school system that best informs grading.”