The Maryland State Board of Education unanimously green-lighted policy changes Tuesday requiring school officials to share with one another certain information from transfer students’ criminal records.

The policy, added Tuesday morning to Maryland State Board of Education’s agenda, comes after lawmakers raised concerns over communication pitfalls in the wake of two high school students being arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a teenager in Columbia.

The revised policy requires local superintendents to forward information about students charged or convicted of “reportable offenses” — certain serious offenses that happen outside school — to education officials in other school districts when the student transfers between schools. Previously, communication between different school districts was optional.

The policy change was brought to Tuesday’s state board meeting as an emergency regulation, meaning it takes effect before going through public comment.

Legislative approval is needed for the regulation to take effect, and the state school board has requested that it start Tuesday and run through April 20, 2025, spokesperson Raven Hill said. The state’s Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review can also adjust the dates when the regulation is in effect.

Del. Jason Buckel, an Allegany County Republican and member of the committee, said he hopes and trusts that the committee will approve the emergency regulation as quickly as possible, adding that it’s “shocking” that these types of policies and regulations haven’t been in place already. He expects the emergency regulation will go before the AELR committee for a vote within the next few weeks.

If the committee votes positively on emergency regulations, they can take effect immediately and go through the standard regulatory process to implement them permanently, so when the emergency regulation expires, there is no gap, Buckel said. He said he would support extending the emergency regulation adopted Tuesday past the normal timeline.

Buckel called the emergency regulation a “no-brainer” and said he couldn’t imagine much opposition to it.Bringing the change to the board on Tuesday morning, State Superintendent of Schools Carey Wright said the department would “continue to review” laws and regulations “to ensure that our school leaders have the information they need to keep school buildings safe.”

The regulation being revised also requires local superintendents to transmit information to school principals and security officers after being notified of an arrest on a “reportable offense,” which include murder, arson, armed carjacking, sexual offenses and other serious crimes. The policy also applies to offenses related to a “student’s membership in a criminal organization.”

“We must be as clear and transparent as possible between and across school systems when it comes to sharing information about transfer students who may pose a threat to school communities,” Wright said. She noted she would not speak about specific cases.

The regulation comes after a 17-year-old Howard High School student was charged with murder while he was being electronically monitored for an earlier attempted murder charge in Anne Arundel County.

Police said the teen was found with a “ghost gun” — a firearm assembled from pieces and without a serial number — in his backpack when he was arrested on school grounds for the killing of Kendrick McLellan, 26, who was found dead inside a car Oct. 9 in a Columbia office building parking lot.

The teen was wearing an ankle monitor and under the supervision of the Department of Juvenile Services due to his arrest in a 2023 attempted homicide case in Anne Arundel County, according to school representatives. Howard County Public School officials said they were not made aware of the student’s previous attempted homicide charges ahead of his most recent arrest.

Anne Arundel County Public Schools spokesperson Bob Mosier said the school system “received the proper documentation to withdraw the student in March 2023” and “responded with the requested records,” though the request did not come from Howard County Public Schools.

Mosier said the school system “is fully supportive of measures to make our schools and, by extension, our communities safer places for children,” calling the school board’s decision “a step forward in that process.”

Bill Barnes, Howard’s superintendent, called Tuesday’s news a step in the right direction.

“Districts across the state have been struggling with this challenge for quite a while, and I look forward to working with my superintendent colleagues to explore how this shift will most effectively be implemented to overcome the hurdles that were amplified last week at Howard High School,” he said in a statement. “Efforts to establish and maintain safe schools continue to necessitate the participation of the entire community, including state and local lawmakers, government agencies, local police, and school districts, and this is an important step by the State Superintendent and Board of Education towards meaningful progress.”

“This is an issue that merits further broad and intense discussion among entities responsible for bringing about necessary change, including school system, law enforcement, and elected officials,” he said.

The issue, along with a handful of high-profile crimes involving children, has intensified calls for Department of Juvenile Services Secretary Vincent Schiraldi to resign. Schiraldi said in an interview Tuesday that he would remain on the job and stay focused on improving public safety and holding children accountable while seeking to rehabilitate them.

Del. Courtney Watson, a Howard County Democrat, said she was “very pleased” that Wright acted so quickly on the recommendations included in a letter she and fellow Howard County Democrats Sens. Katie Fry Hester and Clarence Lam sent to the state board.

“It should never have been optional that this information be transferred,” Watson said. “It should always have been a requirement.”

The lawmakers met with representatives from the Howard County school system, DJS and the Howard County State’s Attorney’s Office several times between Friday and Sunday, pinpointing the communication concerns and forwarding them to Wright in the letter, Watson said.

In addition to asking for changes to the policy regarding the sharing of students’ criminal records, the lawmakers asked Wright to conduct a review of students with reportable offenses in the state’s public schools and ensure that principals are aware.

The lawmakers also called for the Maryland State Department of Education to do a “top-down” review of communication “to ensure that all the appropriate stakeholders are notified in the future,” Lam said.

It was fortunate that no one in the school was injured, Lam said, but circumstances like this shouldn’t be what prompts a review of policy.

“We should not be waiting for instances where people have fallen through the cracks, like in this case, to do a full-on review to make sure that we’re not missing other instances and cases where somebody has fallen through the cracks,” Lam said.

Both Lam and Watson said it is too early to tell whether legislation will be needed or proposed in the upcoming General Assembly session.

It is always preferred to have changes made immediately, Watson said, which was able to occur through regulation.

Lam also noted that the state education department can move more nimbly than the legislature and will be able to make more long-term adjustments.

Watson, who served for four years on Howard County’s Board of Education, said she asked the school system to “be proactive” in ensuring that it asks questions when needed about students receiving DJS services.

“In your own county, we also need to be sure that we are doing our due diligence as well as waiting for information from the receiving school,” Watson said.