Didn’t take long for a change in policy. Update to this story.
Via Baltimore Sun:
Two weeks after a shooting in a Baltimore high school, the city’s school board reversed its position on whether school police should be allowed to carry weapons, voting 8-2 in support of legislation that would amend state law to authorize officers to patrol schools with guns.
The board’s decision comes a month after the 10 members voted unanimously against the idea of arming school police officers. The dramatic shift could provide a needed boost to state Del. Cheryl Glenn’s proposed legislation in Annapolis. Even if the board hadn’t thrown its support behind the bill, Glenn had said she would’ve continued to push for change after the recent shooting at Frederick Douglass High School.
Neil Davis, a 25-year-old family member of a student, came into Douglass on Feb. 8 and shot special education assistant Michael Marks, according to police. The 56-year-old longtime staffer was seriously injured but survived.
The shooting instantly revived the debate over whether school police should be allowed to carry their guns, a contentious issue that’s long divided parents, students and lawmakers. Those on both sides of the issue stridently believe their point of view represents the best way to keep kids safe.
Just because the board voted to support Glenn’s legislation, school board chair Cheryl Casciani said, doesn’t mean armed school police are a “foregone conclusion.”
“It’s not a given what will happen in Annapolis,” she said, “and after it happens we will have some real decisions to make about how we’re going to do this.”
Glenn said that while the city’s General Assembly delegation is divided on the issue, she thinks having the support of the school board will help buoy her bill.
“It would be nice if we lived in a world where we didn’t need guns at all, but that’s not the reality for us in Baltimore City. This decision will give the bill a lot of the support the delegation needs to see,” she said. “This is all about public safety.”
Baltimore is the only jurisdiction in Maryland with a sworn school police force. In surrounding districts, local police or sheriff’s departments patrol schools and are allowed to carry their weapons. Under current law, the city’s roughly 100 school police officers are allowed to carry their guns while patrolling the exterior of school buildings before and after school hours, but they are required to store their weapons in a secure location during the day.